The Odd One, Activated
by Infinity Unit 13
Summary: REWRITE IS NOW UP.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! It's me, IU13 with a little project that I thought up while playing The Division. By the way, this is a really good game. I know that sounds pretty generic, but the game is just... wow. A few friends of mine from the game Destiny say that The Division is what Destiny was supposed to be. Anyway, enough talk about games! Tell me if you guys want to continue this and I shall!**

 **Enjoy!**

()()()()()

The Division.

It had been nagging at him ever since he enlisted at the age of 15. The RNG, (Remnant National Government), wanted sleeper agents embedded even further into society. So what better way than to use teenagers?

Jaune Arc was one such teen.

The days at the training camp had been hellish, yet he had persevered. For the sake of his dream: to protect. Although now, his dream has altered just slightly. To protect those that can't protect themselves, or die trying. His days at camp had introduced him to many continuous hours of strain, stress, and pain. Along with the physical challenges, came the mental ones. Whispers from his fellow trainees about what they would face if, and when, they were activated. The things Jaune had learned from their words changed his view of the world drastically.

Of course, he still considered himself an optimist, but he also knew the bad side of the world as well. He knew how evil the world could be. So he vowed to prevent that. He passed boot camp with flying colors. With his smaller stature, he was just the tiniest bit more agile, and it helped that he was a quick thinker, often praised for his fast decision making skills. Education had of course been provided for him, along with everyone around his age bracket. He studied hard in tactics, trained for physicals, and pushed himself to the limit for the combat simulation.

Jaune was so enveloped with The Division, that he was confused on what to do with his life after he ended training. Training lasted two years, and in those two years, Jaune had made little to no contact with the outside world. Lost in possibilities, Jaune travelled to Vacuo, where his family lived.

His family had welcomed him back with wide and open arms. He spent seven months in Vacuo, before he left for Vale to begin school as an official huntsman. Unfortunately, Jaune had no formal education, and therefor could not enroll in Beacon, the number one hunter university on Remnant. To solve this, Jaune had forged his transcripts, and got accepted into Beacon.

Jaune's next problem presented itself as soon as the Bullhead came into view. He would have to blend in with the crowd. Of course, a soldier-esque presence would undoubtedly trouble a few students, Jaune had to put up an act.

He would have to be weak. And so...

Weak did he become.

()()()()()

Beacon Adcademy:

Jaune wiped a small drop of blood that was forming on the corner of his lip when Ms. Goodwitch called the match. "Enoug!" she cried, "Mr. Arc, I advise next time that you be wary of your aura consumption." Jaune gave a small nod.

Ms. Goodwitch returned the gesture before turning to Jaune's opponent, Cardin Winchester.

"And you, Mr. Winchester. Overkill is not a wise action, seeing as the wasted energy could be instead utilized for something more useful." Ms. Goodwitch reprimanded.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I got my aura to give me more energy when I need it." Cardin uncaringly replied.

Ms. Goodwitch's eyebrow twitches. "And is your aura unlimited? What if you are in a situation in which your aura reserves are low? Would you still be able to continue on?" She asks, a victorious smirk flashing across her face before vanishing when Cardin remained silent.

Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.

"Class dismissed!"

()()()()()

Beacon Academy, Cafeteria:

Jaune was currently sitting with his teammates while looking at the TV screen which displayed a crashed Bullhead with the words 'No More Pain' spray painted across the side of the burnt surface. Jaune's gaze steadily drifted down to his left wrist, where a black and orange themed watch rested beneath his sleeve, hidden from the world.

The first semester was already coming to a close, and Jaune had successfully created the image of a weak boy trying to be someone he isn't. But now... the chance of him being 'activated' was at an all time high. Recently, faunas gangs have been branching off from the White Fang, while faunas criminals are using equality as a false front to commit crime.

With all of that in mind, Jaune couldn't help but be on edge for the past week. He was both excited and afraid. Excited that he would see some action and actually utilize his training, and afraid because he didn't want to make his friends worry. He looked to his left, where all of his friends sat around the lunch table.

Yang was teasing Ruby about something, causing her to go as red as her cloak. Weiss was discussing the homework with Blake, who was nonchalantly reading a book. Pyrrha and Ren were both struggling to keep Nora from running to the lunch line to get more pancakes, seeing as she had already polished off five plates without even trying.

He didn't want to leave them. And on the off chance that they see him while he's working, he didn't want to feel guilty for lying to them should they confront him about it his training. He glanced down at his watch again, and to his shock and slight horror, the rim was glowing orange.

Jaune stood up, causing both teams (J)NPR and RWBY to look at him. "Jaune? Where are you going?" Pyrrha asked. The others nodded along with her question.

Jaune gave her a smile. "I just got a call from Headmaster Ozpin. I'll be fine." He replied. At this, Pyrrha began to stand up.

"Then I should go too. As second-in-command I should be there with my commander." Pyrrha stated. Jaune shook his head in response.

"No, Pyrrha. I appreciate it, but I've gotta go alone. Sucks, I know. But trust me! There'll still be plenty more Jaune to pass around!" He joked. This caused the whole table to look at him dryly. "R-Right... Well, I've gotta go now. I'll see you l-, uh, later."

And with that, Jaune walked away from the table. However, as he was doing so, Ruby noticed that his sleeve had hiked up just a tiny bit, but it was enough to reveal the glowing orange watch on his left wrist. As soon as Jaune was out of earshot, Ruby told the others.

"Hey, uh, guys? When did Jaune have a watch?" She asked the table. The others looked around in confusion. Team (J)NPR looked at Ruby in surprise.

"What brought this up?" Pyrrha asked her. Ruby pointed to the door that Jaune had just walked out of.

"Jaune had a glowing orange watch on his hand! I noticed it when he walked out of the door. It looked so cool!"

Blake put down her book and sighed. "I noticed the watch, but only today. A few minutes before he left, actually. It wasn't glowing, at the time at least. Jaune seemed to be glancing on it back and forth. Then, it just started glowing, and that's when he stood up." Blake informed the table. Pyrrha was worried. Same could be said for Nora, Ren and team RWBY.

"You don't think Jaune's gotten himself into something that'll get him in trouble, do you?" Yang asked. The others seemed to ponder that. Now it was Ren's turn to speak.

"I also noticed that Jaune was a little... tense, this past week. It might be plausible that Jaune has gotten mixed in with something. I'm surprised that you didn't notice it Pyrrha."

Pyrrha seemed lost in her own mind. Jaune's been hiding something? From her? His own partner? She was there to support him, and yet, he's holding in his secrets. Granted that, yes, Pyrrha also has secrets of her own, but they're not major at all. However, that watch that Ruby noticed seemed to, open a new perspective of Jaune. His secretive side.

"Jaune, please, be safe." Pyrrha murmured.

()()()()()

Team JNPR dorm:

Jaune went into the closet. He dug behind all of the pills of clothes and finally pulled out a green back back pack. It was a sling pack, with a single grey and orange device on the strap, along with a few pouches. He looked at the time on his watch. He had five minutes to get prepared. He discarded his uniform and donned his hoodie and faded jeans. He wouldn't need his armor, now that he wouldn't have to keep up the act. He slipped on a pair of military-issue boots, along with a basic black baseball cap.

Jaune looked at the time again. Two minutes until team JNPR would return from lunch. He opened his back pack and found the his Covert SRS and his AUG Para 3x. He also found his M45A1 already holstered. He slipped on his back pack and secured all of his weapons before going to the window, and opening it. Everyone should still be at lunch, and the windows in the lunch room all faced the back of the campus, so he looked out to Beacon's front entrance. He'd be exposed, but he hoped people would just assume that he was on a mission, which he technically was.

He climbed onto the ledge of the window, and prepared to jump. It was a 10-foot drop, so it wouldn't hurt unless he didn't roll. Just as he was about to jump, he heard he door open.

'Oh sh**' Jaune thought, and quickly jumped. He heard Pyrrha calling his name, but ignored it as he ran to the port. He quickly reached back into his pack, and pulled out a silver canister that had a cord on the bottom. He slid off his backpack while still running and secured the canister to the front of the pack, using a steel clip, and slipped his pack on again. He ran full speed to the edge of the port before he jumped off.

Jaune turned around as he fell. Looking up at the port. He saw Pyrrha looking down at him. He turned away, not wanting to see her eyes. He thought of what emotions her eyes would've shown him. Betrayal? Hurt? Worry? Fear? He didn't know, and frankly, nor did he want to. But he paid no mind to that now. The ground was steadily growing closer, and a few seconds later, Jaune pulled the cord on the canister, releasing an all black parachute.

As soon as he landed on the top of a skyscraper, Jaune pulled the cord again, reeling the parachute back in. After putting the canister away, back in his pack, Jaune put on e rest of his gear. Gloves, knee pads and an armored vest were secured to his person, before he pulled out his AUG. He primed the gun before looking out over the city below. The streets were nearly empty, the occasional civilian walking along the sidewalk. Most of Vale's population was likely frightened by the gangs roaming the streets, and for the right reason. He was here to make sure that these people were unharmed. He walked to the rooftop entrance and began descending down the stairs.

He had a job to do.

 **A/N: Alright guys! How was that? This was just a little something nagging at me and I wanted to see if you guys would like it! Alrighty guys, this IU13, over and out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alrighty then guys! Wow, the first chapter was surprisingly well-received! I honestly didn't expect that, and for that, I am grateful. However, enough of that! You guys are here for the story! So, look there! Down below!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Side note: All of Jaune's gear is going to be Specialized or higher. His weapons are Superior, while most of his armor is Specialized, save for his backpack.**

 **()()()()() Vale:**

Jaune had been wandering the streets for a few minutes now. No signs of any sort of enemies. It was quiet in the city, unlike it's usual hustle and bustle. Although it was understandable, with all of the gangs and criminals roaming about. Honestly, Jaune couldn't help but wonder what the VPD, (Vale Police Department), were doing. How could they not have noticed the rise in activity?

He shook his head. It doesn't matter. He was activated, and he can't question it. He continued his walk along the city. The streets were fairly clean, except for the occasional pile up of trash. As he walked, a gold plated on the entrance of a building caught his eye. He went up to the door, and read the words engraved into it.

"The Wolves Den, Sports Bar and Grill." He read aloud. Beneath that, however, were a few markings. A simple code made of single lines and circles taught to all Division Agents in training camp. It read, "The Wolves Den JTF Safehouse. Entry Code: Lupa."

Jaune smiled to himself. He entered the restaurant and found a woman, likely in her late twenties, with chestnut hair and hazel eyes behind the counter. She was cleaning the bar with a rag when she looked up.

"Hello there? For how many?" She asked with a smile.

"Lupa." Jaune answered. The smile on the woman's face vanished and she nodded.

She gestured for Jaune to come around the bar. "Follow me."

Jaune complied, and followed her to a door in the back of the restaurant. "Code is 1961." The woman said before returning back to the main floor.

Jaune punched the code into the keypad next to the door. The door opened, revealing a large room, nearly as big as a small house, filled with JTF equipment and injured civilians. He walked to the JTF officer and received a digital file containing all missions in the surrounding area.

"Good to have you on board Agent." The officer commented as he worked on paperwork.

"Yeah. How's the situation? I know it's bad, but I would like to know what exactly caused the government to launch Directive 51." Jaune asked.

"Well, you see, four... I guess, factions, have sprung up around Vale. They take people off the streets and loot houses, and too many of them for the police to handle. JTF is thinned out as it is with the lack of staff," the officer sighed, "we're literally running on voluntary soldiers. And that's not right."

Jaune processed that for a minute. "So that's how it is, huh? How much of Vale's population is Code White?" He asked.

The officer shook his head. "None. These factions are all over the city. At this rate, even Beacon might get overrun. We've got most of our forces around the port to prevent any of them from getting in, but I'm not sure if that'll last." The officer informed.

"Alright. Thank you." Jaune said as he began to leave.

"Yeah, see you around Agent." The officer called back as he returned to his work.

Jaune left the restaurant and began walking down the street. He pressed a button on his watch, which caused a holographic he map to appear on the watch's surface. There were a few turquoise markers in the shape of a pentagon. "Okay, let's take care of those first." He muttered as he ran in the direction of the marker.

()()()()() Vale, Warehouse #1328:

After a few minutes running, Jaune came to a stop outside of a warehouse. "Agent? Ever heard of a Danny Bullet?" The officer at Wolves Den asked, "Well, he's notorious for killing innocents for the... 'fun' of it. He's back, and he needs to be put down. Go carefully."

Jaune reached for his handheld radio. "Wilco. Agent Arc, going in." He whispered into the radio as he snuck inside the warehouse.

The sound of footsteps in the large building echoes off the walls. A few people here were conversing with each other. "Man, we should be stormin' Atlas! I'm tellin' ya', they got more sh** than Vale. Valuable stuff too." One of them commented.

Another voice, female, spoke up. "Are ya' stupid? We'd be f**kin' blown apart by the military there! They got top of the line guns, f**kin' automated soldiers. We'd never last! They worse up than this JTF bullsh**."

"Well damn, it seemed like a good idea..." The guy muttered.

Jaune moved around the two and looked for the leader. He found the man, in the form of a heavy built gunner with a M249. "Ah crap." Jaune muttered. He looked at his weapon, before taking out his Covert SRS. It had no suppressor. He sighed. "I'll have to go loud."

With the Covert, he aimed at the leader's head. Jaune waited a few seconds before he pulled the trigger.

(BANG)

The round slammed into the the man's head, but deflected off of his helmet. "Ah for f**k's sake."

Danny Bullet opened fire on Jaune, causing him to take cover behind a stack of boxes. "This is bad."

One of the lower men came around the box with a pistol. Five rounds to the head with an AUG seemed to do the trick. He looked around the box, and found that Danny was no less than 10 feet away from him. He sprinted away, before taking cover behind another stack of boxes, 30 enters away.

He took care of a few guys trying to rush hour him, all with pistols. He turned back to Danny, and poured a whole magazine into his head. The glass face cover finally broke, allowing Jaune to finish him off with the Covert SRS. He took aim...

(BANG)

...and the rioter was no more. Jaune took a breather behind the boxes, before he exited the warehouse. "Wolves Den, target eliminated."

The officer came onto the radio, "Good. You got a blueprint for a weapon on that watch of yours. Man, it must be awesome to have a watch like that."

Jaune chuckled. "Alright. Over and out."

And with that, Jaune took to the streets again.

()()()()() With teams (J)NPR and RWBY:

Both teams were out in the city of Bale, looking for their friend. Jaune had brought his scroll with him, being the idiot that he can be at times. Pyrrha was currently holding her scroll in her hands, the finder app on it open. It showed that Jaune was currently west of their position, and moving east. Towards them.

Pyrrha looked down at her gear. Instead of her usual bronze armor, she was wearing black pants, with a grey hoodie, armor vest, gloves and knee pads. She wore a sling backpack, with a weird grey device with a glowing orange circle. On her left wrist was a glowing orange watch.

The others were wearing nearly the same thing. This was all courtesy of Ozpin.

()()()()() _(Flashback)_

 _Pyrrha was distraught over Jaune leaving. She had never seen the gear he was wearing before. She thought back to the watch that Ruby had pointed out. She hated that watch. She hated it for taking away her leader... and love interest._

 _She sat in the (J)NPR dorm with her knees up to her chest. Suddenly, a text rang on her scroll. She glanced at it, before seeing that it was from Ozpin. The message read:_

 _"Would teams JNPR and RWBY come to the main office? I have a little mission for you guys."_

 _Pyrrha sighed. How was she going to explain the absence of their leader?_

 _()()()()() In Ozpin's Office:_

 _Teams (J)NPR and RWBY stood still in front of Ozpin. Pyrrha spoke up first. "Headmaster Ozpin, Jaune is-"_

 _"He's been called for duty." Ozpin cut her off._

 _Pyrrha froze. "W-What do you mean?"_

 _Ozpin stood up and faced the window, looking over the campus. "Directive 51 was issued a few days ago. I'm surprised that Mr. Arc was activated just today."_

 _He turned to them. "Mr. Arc is... what you would call, a Sleeper Agent. He was imbedded into society, until he got the call."_

 _The two teams were shocked at this new information. Yang spoke up nervously. "Y-You're joking, right Headmaster? J-Jaune, as a Sleeper Agent? H-Haha..."_

 _Ozpin turned to Yang. "This is no joke, Ms. Xiao Long. You are here to get Jaune back to Beacon. As a human, I believe Mr. Arc is too young to be involved in government. Although I understand that Hunters and Huntresses are pretty much the same thing, a soldier, kills people. That is the way of old. If Jaune is a soldier, then he is too young."_

 _His gaze rested on the group as a whole. "I will deal with the RNG. I am entrusting you to bring Mr. Arc back to the campus. Alive. Through any means necessary."_

 _Pyrrha nodded. "Yes sir."_

 _Ozpin nodded, then gestured to a table set up in the corner of his office. On the table, were sets of clothes. Along with a familiar object. At least, in description. Pyrrha went up to the table and picked up the grey and orange watch. It's rim was glowing a bright orange._

 _"Is this...?" Ren began._

 _Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. You will need to get close to Mr. Arc. No doubt he will attempt to run away should he see you. Here, wear these as well." He reached behind his desk and tossed each one of them a helmet. It was a simple helmet, save for the visor that protruded down the front to hide the eyes._

 _"The outfits would be pointless if he can identify your faces."_

 _Weiss looked at the gear. She seemed to be staring at the watch. "Why was I never told of this, Directive 51?"_

 _"Directive 51 was a classified operation in order to continue the enforcement of law during a crisis. That being said, these past events all meet the conditions of said crisis," Ozpin explained, "I am not surprised that you were not told of this, Ms. Schnee. No matter how big of corporation the Schnee Dust Company is, I doubt the RNG would inform your father is this."_

 _Pyrrha turned to Ozpin, tears lacing her eyes. "Thank you sir."_

 _(Flashback End)_

()()()()() Vale:

Both teams, all of them wearing the gear Ozpin provided, waited for Jaune to come to them. They were all hiding behind an object of some kind. Pyrrha had her scroll out.

'80 meters.' She thought to herself. She poked her head out of her cover. Which was a car parked along the street. She saw a single figure, walking down the middle of the road. The person was carrying a gun of some kind in their hands, while another was strapped to their backpack, and a pistol lay in it's holster on their leg.

As the person got closer, Pyrrha identified the figure. "Jaune..." She breathed out. She signaled the others, who were also hiding behind cars, save for Ren and Weiss, who were hiding behind mailboxes. They nodded, and got ready to reveal themselves.

When Jaune was a few meters away, they all jumped out of their covers. This surprised Jaune, but he seemed to relax after he glanced at their wrists and backpacks.

"Jeez guys, don't scare me like that. Friendly." He said as he held his hands up to show he was good. He brought his gun back into his hand.

"So, have you guys noticed any activity?" He asked them.

The two teams looked at each other before shaking their heads.

Jaune sighed. "Great. I'm really starting to wonder what they were thinking activating us. Um... Just a question though. Why exactly, were you hiding?" He asked.

They all shrugged.

Jaune's eyes narrowed. "How about I hear a little dialogue? Someone care to speak?" He asked, his stance becoming defensive.

The two teams both saw this. Pyrrha broke the ice. "Easy there. We're all on the same side here. Directive 51's just got us a little on edge is all." She spoke, putting herself between the Jaune and the others. Jaune seems taken aback by her voice.

He raised his gun at her. This both shocked and hurt her. "You. Who are you? Your voice sounds familiar." He questioned, his finger growing ever closer to the trigger.

Pyrrha noticed this, and quickly held both hands up. "Hey, I'm on your side!"

Jaune didn't buy it. "What are we called?" He questioned.

Pyrrha didn't answer, and as Jaune was about to pull the trigger, she used her semblance to rip the gun out of Jaune's hands. His eyes widened. "That semblance... Crap." And he ran.

Yang pointed at him while looking at Ruby. "Get him!"

Ruby complied, and tackled Jaune onto the ground. Using his aura, Jaune launched Ruby off of him into a tree, which snagged her grey hoodie, leaving her dangling and dazed.

"Uhhh... My head is spinning." She muttered to herself.

Jaune continued to run away from the group. He glanced behind him and saw that Pyrrha was the closest to him, only 10 feet away. He pressed himself even harder, putting a good amount of distance between the two.

Pyrrha was surprised by the sudden burst of speed. He'd also been holding back on her? That made the pain in her chest worsen. But it also made her more determined than ever to catch him. Suddenly, Jaune pulled out some sort of capsule. Pyrrha squinted at it as she ran. Suddenly, she recognized it. "Flashbang!" She yelled out, before she was disoriented by the device. She slowed down to a stop, hopelessly rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the brightness. When the white fade away, she couldn't find Jaune anywhere.

She punched the ground, causing a small dent to appear within the concrete. "Why?" she asked her self, "why is he running from us? Does he not trust us?"

Suddenly, a black metal ball fell down onto the ground in front of her. The others came over to look at the ball. "What is this?" Blake asked.

Suddenly, an image projected out of the ball, revealing a familiar face. "Jaune!" They all exclaimed.

Pyrrha immediately began to question the spherical object. "Jaune, why are you running from us? We can help you! Just please come back with us to Beacon!" She spoke almost desperately. Ren placed a hand on her shoulder before pointing at the ball.

"I believe it's a recording." He said. And he was right, as the image of Jaune played out.

"All right. My name is Jaune Arc, I was inducted into The Division at the age of 15. My reasons for doing so are purely for the protection of others. I will die, if I have to. Should my time come, I would request of Faye Lau to watch over my family, and to ensure that my older sisters are unaware of my passing for as long as possible. If you are watching this, and I met you after this recording was... well, recorded. Then I have one thing to say to you. 'See the glass as half-full, not half-empty.'" And with that the recording ended.

Pyrrha immediately looked up from the ground. She looked around her, and her gaze rested on the spot where she had thrown Jaune's gun. The gun was gone. She looked up at the rooftops. She found a black figure on top of the building that she was in front of. It was Jaune. He gave her a thumbs up before leaving her field of view.

()()()()() Vale, Rooftops:

Jaune was currently smacking his forehead repetitively. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" Muttered to himself. "I'm such an idiot."

'I probably looked like a complete goofball. I mean, seriously, who gives a thumbs up to the people that just tried to capture them?' He thought to himself.

He continued to berate himself as he walked along the rooftops, when his train of thought was interrupted by his radio.

"Arc? We got a situation. One of the factions, the Liners, got some hostages locked up in a parking garage. Think you can handle it?" The officer from Wolves Den asked.

Jaune reached for his radio. "Roger that. Also, Liners? Are they...?"

"Yeah. They're from Liners Correctional Facility. All escapees. Heh, looks like you have your work cut out for ya'."

Jaune groaned. "Just my luck."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Alrighty guys! So, first things first. I'd like to give a HUMONGOUS shoutout to The Assassin's mentor, bada*** writer, be sure to check him out. He's helped me a ton! He's given me an agent to insert into my story, so I thank from the very bottom of my near abysmal heart. Needless to say, a lot.**

 **Anyways, here's the chapter!**

 **E-Enjoy!**

 **W-Why are you still reading this? Th-The chapter's down there! Read the chapter! I SAID READ IT!**

 **But seriously, here you go.**

()()()()()

Vale, Parking Garage:

Jaune leaned against one of the columns within the parking garage. He had just freed the hostages from the Liners, and it was more tiring than he thought it would initially be. He had taken a few bullets, but thankfully, his aura had begun repairing the damage, the worst of them being a wound near his heart.

He sank down to the ground, exhausted. He had totally forgotten about shelter for when he needed rest. He could always go to the Wolves Den, but he doubted they actually had any bedding. He sighed. He thought about renting an apartment before quickly shaking the thought away. The citizens would still be frightened. And the JTF, to his knowledge, still haven't set up a Base of Operations.

Jaune sighed. "Will I really have to return back to Beacon?" He muttered to himself. Reluctantly, Jaune pulled himself up, groaning as he did so, and continued walking through the city. He avoided going out in the open, lest he wanted to be surprised by his friends again. How did they even find him...? Wait.

Jaune slid off his backpack and rifled through the contents. He found what he was looking for, in the form of his scroll. He slapped himself on the head. "How much of an idiot am I?" He asked himself. He looked back to the scroll before tossing it into a nearby alleyway. "Goodbye old friend. I will forever miss you, probably." He said to his scroll, before walking away. Suddenly, his radio flared to life.

"Arc? The RNG's got something for all active Division Agents in the safe houses. They want all Agents to find the nearest safe house and retrieve the, um, thing. Needless to say, ya' gotta come back here." The officer at Wolves Den informed over the comms.

"Wilco, ETA, five minutes." Jaune responded. He began to sprint back to the Wolves Den, using his watch map to find the restaurant. Once he reached his destination, he walked inside, nodding to the woman behind the counter again before going to the safehouse, punching in he code, and walking inside. He found a few other agents inside. Although one seemed to stick out among the rest.

A woman, seemingly amidst her late twenties to early thirties, waited amongst the other agents by herself, impatiently tapping her foot on the concrete floor. Jaune's face morphed into a mischievous smirk, before he silently snuck up behind her. Once he was close enough, he went right next to her ear and...

"Boo."

...scared the lights out of her. However, scaring a Division Agent wasn't very wise, as she soon had Jaune pinned to the floor with his arm behind his back.

"Owowowowowowowowowowowowow! Okay! Enough! I've learned my lesson already so for the love of Oum let go of me!" Jaune cried out. Recognizing the annoying yet sweet blonde goofball below her, the woman sighed before letting go of him.

"Hell Jaune, I nearly broke your arm." The woman said, crossing her arms.

Jaune rolled his shoulder before shooting her a withering glare. "Thanks for blowing my mind with the obvious information." He answered crossly.

The woman smirked. "You just can't take the pain Jauney-boy!" The woman teased.

"You suck, Faye." Jaune muttered.

"Ha! Knew it!"

Jaun rolled his eyes. "And what is the notorious Faye Lau doing here?"

"Hey, you make me sound like a bad guy, or, woman." The now identified Faye Lau said, raising an eyebrow.

"Bad doesn't even begin to describe you." Jaune replied, holding back a snort.

"Hey! I'm an Agent for a reason dumba**!" She retorted, slapping Jaune upside the head for good measure.

"Ah! What the hell Faye?!"

"That's what you get for being an idiot." She responded before turning away from him.

"What are we even waiting for?" Jaune asked.

Faye shrugged in response. "Don't know, just got called and came here as fast as I could. Came all the way from Plank's."

Jaune perked up at that. "Really?! Are they still open?" He asked eagerly.

Faye snorted. "Like a kid. As expected."

"Hey! What the hell's that supposed to mean?!"

()()()()() Vale, Streets:

Teams (J)NPR and RWBY were both following Pyrrha again. She had her scroll out. Following Jaune's scroll with the tracker. She noticed that he hadn't moved for the past ten minutes, and she had a bad feeling that he had found out how they had found him the first time.

She was, unfortunately, correct. Ruby and Weiss went into an alleyway and came back with a scroll. Jaune's scroll. They all collectively sighed in frustration.

"How are we gonna find him now?" Ruby asked. Yang patted her sister's hair with a smile.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out." Yang assured her. She turned to the others. "Anybody here have a plan?" She asked.

They all looked at each other before simultaneously shaking their heads. Yang groaned.

()()()()()

Vale, Rooftops:

Jaune was fiddling with the earpiece that he had gotten at Wolves Den. It never seemed to be comfortable. Wait. There!

"Ah, much better." He sighed in contentment. That felt extremely awkward.

He repeatedly tapped the earpiece. "Does this thing even work?" He muttered. Suddenly, a male synthesized voice spoke up from the earpiece, startling Jaune. However, the words spoken by the voice made Jaune turn all kinds of serious.

"Rogue Agent detected. Analyzing data, confirmed. Marking coordinates now."

()()()()()

Vale, Alleyway:

A man stood in an alleyway. He had dark green eyes with slightly spikey brown hair that was hidden behind a black beanie and a lightly tanned complexion. He wore a leather jacket with the Division insignia on the right shoulder, (Iconic Division Leather Jacket), a black training hoodie underneath, olive green military pants, along with brown combat boots and fingerless gloves.

He was standing over the corpse of another man, a gun with a smoking barrel in his hand.

"Treacherous scum." He spat out before turning away. However, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a silhouette at the end of the alleyway. But he knew that the person was aiming a gun at him.

"You. Put your hands up where I can see them and turn around slowly." The person ordered.

()()()()()

Vale, Alleyway:

Jaune had his sights trained on the guy's head, ready to pull the trigger. The man had not done as he had just ordered, so he did so again.

"Put your hands up and turn around slowl- hey!" Jaune pulled the trigger when the man broke into a sprint. The bullets impacted the man's aura, but otherwise did nothing to slow him down.

"For Oum's sake!" Jaune chased after the man.

"Stop! You're making this harder on yourself!" He yelled as he ran to catch up with the man. Jaune used his aura to boost his speed, closing the distance between the two significantly. Suddenly, the man turned into a separate alleyway. A dead end.

The man turned around to find the barrel of an AUG Para 3x aimed at his head. "You got 30 seconds to explain why you went rogue." Jaune spoke coldly.

The man, gulped, before dropping the gun in his hands. "I'm innocent. I was just-" Whatever the man was going to say was cut off when a shrill voice shrieked from behind Jaune.

"Leave him alone!" Suddenly, a girl shot past Jaune and herself between the gun and the man.

Jaune immediately lowered the gun and took in the physical state of the girl. She was blonde, with blue eyes and waist length hair tied into a ponytail. Her clothes were ripped, forcefully from what Jaune could tell. With that observation, Jaune understood the situation.

"Did he save you?" Jaune asked the girl, gesturing to the man behind her with his free hand.

The girl nodded, a little off-put by him knowing what happened, but otherwise remained unfazed.

"That's all I need." Jaune said. He walked up to the man behind the girl and offered a hand.

"I'm sorry about the mix-up. The map's got you pinned as a Rogue. But seeing that," Jaune gestured to the girl's clothing, "I understand now. But just to be clear, was that Agent...?"

Taking the hand, the man nodded. "Yes."

Jaune nodded, before scowling. He shook his head. "Anyways, my name is Jaune Arc, code name 'Knight'." ( **A/N: Original, I know.** )

The man introduced himself and the girl. "My name is Cole Mallory, code name 'Rook' and this is my cousin, Stephanie Killiani." He said as he pointed with his chin to the girl. The girl waved.

Jaune sighed. "Alright let me call this in." Jaune stepped away to call Wolves Den. Meanwhile, Cole checked over Stephanie to make sure she's alright.

"Are you okay Stephanie? Did he do anything to you? And please be honest." He asked her.

Stephanie rolled her eyes before smiling at him. "I'm fine Cole, he just ripped my clothes, that's all." She gestured to the bit of her shirt that had been torn off.

"See? It's not even that much." She reassured him.

Still, even with all of the denials from Stephanie, Cole still fussed over her well-being. However, Jaune came back to talk with Cole.

"Well, you're in the clear. Although HQ isn't happy that you've brought family along with you, even when you've been activated."

Cole grunted. "Tell HQ that they can go-"

"That we can go what, Mr. Mallory?" A voice asked from behind him. Cole froze up, before realizing that behind him was just a wall. That is, until he looked up, to see a smirking Faye Lau standing on the balcony above him with her arms crossed.

"Eh... just kidding?" Cole tried, but it was for naught as Faye had already pinned him to the ground brutally.

()()()()()

Vale, Streets:

Teams (J)NPR and RWBY were walking the streets, in their attempt to find Jaune. It was proving very difficult, as they had no actual place to look. They were about to head back to Beacon and try and track Jaune from there when a group of at least 10 men came around the street corner, carrying what looked like Assault Rifles and a single LMG. Both teams got prepared for a fight.

The men noticed the two teams and immediately opened fire. Normally, they could take these guys out fast, but the two teams were currently without there weapons, so they were pinned down. Both teams took cover amongst the rows of cars on either side of the street. Pyrrha was using her semblance to catch a few of the bullets and send the back, but a few of the men had aura, so it was essentially pointless. They were too far away for Pyrrha to affect the guns directly. So until they got closer, they would just have to wait.

()()()()() Vale, Alleyway:

Jaune was currently trying to suppress a laugh when he heard the sound of gunfire. It was coming from the west. Suddenly, the male synthesized voice, or as Faye had called it, ISAC told Jaune from the earpiece.

"Civilians pinned down under hostile fire. Analyzing data, confirmed. Marking coordinates now." The computer informed, but Jaune was already on the move.

Faye was still pinning Cole down when she noticed Jaune was running. "Jaune! Where are you going?!" She yelled. Suddenly, ISAC contacted her as well.

After receiving the same information as Jaune, she helped Cole up and dragged him all with her.

()()()()() Vale, Streets:

Jaune tore out of the alleyway with the speed of a bullet, thanks to his aura. He sprinted towards the coordinates. "I can make it! I gotta make it!" He told himself. He stopped when he saw the Liners opening fire at... Division Agents? Wait, what?

"They're not civilians, so why are they...?" then, Jaune noticed the red hair of a certain champion, and he understood, "Right, my friends."

He grunted. He was silently berating them for not bringing their weapons with them. He brought the sights of his AUG onto the head of the Liner closest to his friends, before pulling the trigger. A burst of bullets tore through the man's skull, and he dropped dead. The Liners faced the new threat, and a barrage of bullets caused Jaune to duck behind cover. He poked the barrel of his gun out of his cover, praying that he wouldn't hit his friends, and pulled the trigger. A few bullets impacted the auras of the Liners, but most flew past them and sailed into the snow. A shot landed next to Pyrrha, to the right of her shoulder.

Jaune took out his Covert SRS and took aim, sighting in the skull of one Liner. He was about to pull the trigger when another Liner came behind the one Jaune was aiming at, lining the skulls of the two up perfectly. He fired, and the two Liners simultaneously dropped dead. Jaune deployed a portable turret, causing the Liners to duck behind cover to escape from the hail-fire. Taking advantage of the pause, Jaune moved forward, setting down next to Pyrrha, who was closest to him.

She looked elated to see him, but that look soon turned to shock as Jaune's face morphed into an angry expression. "What were you guys thinking?! Going into the city without your weapons at a time like this?!" Jaune yelled.

Pyrrha was thrown for a loop at seeing Jaune angry at her. "W-We were just trying to get you back to-"

"I don't care! It was stupid of you guys to come here unarmed! I'm taking you all back to Beacon as soon as I deal with these guys!" Jaune stated, before returning to firing at the Liners. Suddenly, an explosion disoriented the Liners.

Jaune looked behind him, and found Cole with a grenade launcher in his hands, aiming at the Liners. Faye came around a car with an ACR-E and immediately went to work on the Liners. "Go Jaune! Get them to the Beacon checkpoint! We'll meet you there!" Faye ordered.

Cole stopped him, before guiding Stephanie over to him. "Jaune, I need you to take Stephanie to the checkpoint!" He yelled over the gunfire. Jaune nodded, and immediately left with teams (J)NPR and RWBY plus Stephanie behind him. As soon as they were away from the gunfire, Jaune turned on them.

"What were you guys thinking?!" Jaune yelled at them.

His friends along with Stephanie jumped at the sudden outburst. Yang recovered quickly and walked right up to him. "We're here to drag your butt back to Beacon, Jaune! Why didn't you tell us about this? You're too young to be a soldier!"

"I don't care if I'm too young! I joined the Division willingly, Yang. To protect! That was my dream! And I'm damn well going to see it through!" Jaune roared, jabbing a finger into her chest.

Weiss separated the two blondes. "Enough! Both of you! We've got what we needed, so let's head back."

Jaune stared at her before giving a snort. "You don't get it do you? I'm not going with you. My only objective is to make sure you guys make it to the Beacon checkpoint, and then I'll return to the city."

Suddenly, things went dark for Jaune, as Blake knocked him out with a blow to the back of the head. The others stared at her in shock as Jaune's unconscious form crumpled to the ground. "It was the only way to get him to Beacon."

Ruby still had her mouth agape. "Still, how did you manage to sneak behind him when you clearly in his field of view?" She asked.

Blake smiled before using her semblance, creating a clone of her self before it disappeared after a few seconds. "I moved to the very edge of his peripheral view and used a clone to make him believe I was still there. I really was moving behind him." She explained with a shrug.

Yang sighed before grabbing Jaune and throwing him onto his shoulder, his hands dangling downward. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Right now, we got Jaune, and we need to bring him back."

Suddenly, the barrel of an ACR-E was aimed at Yang's forehead as Faye stepped in front of her. "Oh no you're not. Cole, grab him." She ordered, Cole immediately taking Jaune away from them before taking him to a nearby car and waking him up. As Cole was doing that, Faye took the barrel of her gun away from Yang.

"I'll be taking you guys to the checkpoint now. And don't even think about using one those shadow clones of yours, kitty. I saw that." Faye said as she looked at Blake. The latter immediately reached for her ears as she stared at Faye in shock.

"How...?"

Faye smirked before turning to Cole. "Cole, once he's awake, take him to the Wolves Den. The Rioters up at Beakers are gathering, so we need him there. That, and I apparently need to school him about letting his guard down."

Cole nodded, before continuing with his task. Pyrrha stepped up to Faye defiantly. "We're not leaving without Jaune." She stated firmly.

Faye merely cocked her gun. "I don't think you have a choice. I'm not happy about hurting civilians, but you've technically attacked a government agent, so by right, I have the authority to take you into custody." Faye replied calmly, all the while staring right into Pyrrha's eyes. The two stared at each other for a moment before Jaune, now awake, stepped between them.

"Enough of this. Faye, go to Wolves Den. I'll meet you there. And yes, you can kick my a** later, but right now, I'm going to Beacon to clear up this mess." Jaune then turned to Pyrrha.

"Look, I couldn't have told you about this even if I wanted to, which I didn't. But know that I chose this life. So please, at least respect my decision."

Pyrrha was at a loss for words. The man in front of her was not the Jaune that she knew. Jaune offered a small smile before flicking her forehead playfully. "Now come on. I don't have all day. The sooner this is cleared up, the better." He said before walking to Beacon, his friends following soon after.

 **A/N: I'm not too happy about this chapter, but I really hope that you guys are. That's really all I can hope for at this point. Anyways guys, have a good day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Alright guys, I'm back! With all of this homework piling up on me, I may not be able to update as much as I want to. Just a warning for those that want to know. So, to prepare, I wrote a slightly longer chapter for you guys.**

 **Anyways, here's chapter 4.**

 **WAIT! WAIT!**

 **Sorry, but I want to reply to all of your reviews, to show that I am listening to your opinions, and that I am trying my hardest to improve. I know I may screw some things up in the end, but I want you guys to know that I really do appreciate you guys sharing your thoughts.**

* * *

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 **Alright guys! I will reply to the other 13, (or more), reviews in the next chapter! Until then, here's the chapter!**

* * *

Beacon Academy, Docks:

Jaune stretched out all of the kinks in his joints, eliciting a few pops from them. The pops seemed to startle the group, seeing as the awkward silence was deafening, to say the least. He glanced back towards his friends, only to find everyone turning away at the last minute and attempt to look away casually. He sighed before turning back to the front.

 _'This is... awkward. What do I say?'_ He thought. Desperately, thoughts flashed by in an instant as Jaune tried to find a conversation starter. Of course, the only one that came to mind had to be _completely stupid._

"So... you come here often?"

Jaune instantly wanted to smack himself over the head.

Repeatedly.

Hard.

For eternity.

The eye rolls and slight chuckles coming from his friends, however, seemed to dispel that desire.

Jaune mentally sighed in relief at his attempt to lift his friend's moods. For a few moments, the group walked in a more comfortable silence.

Jaune's mind was in turmoil. What was he going to say to Ozpin? Pyrrha widened her strides until she was right next to Jaune and she gently laid a hand on his shoulder. Jaune glanced at her, guilt overflowing, before quickly looking away.

Pyrrha's grip tightened, making Jaune cringe a little. Not at the pain he was feeling, but because of the pain he had caused her.

He cursed under his breath, before stopping abruptly, causing Pyrrha to bump into him. Jaune's friends all stopped immediately in their tracks.

He turned to all of them. "I-... (Sigh) I'm sorry about all of this. I know that... this is a little bit of a dick move, but it's out of my hands. I can understand if... trust issues have popped up because of this. Hey, after this, I'll probably be out of your guys' way!-"

(SLAP)

Pyrrha stood in front of Jaune, face contorted in anger. "Stop talking as if you're useless! You don't even know how big of a part you contribute to us, Jaune!" She sounded genuinely angry, something that confused Jaune.

Ruby marched right up to Jaune and wrapped him in a tight hug, with strength that seemed impossible for someone with her frame.

"She's right Jaune. And as a fellow team leader, I am sentencing you to three days without Ren's pancakes after this is all over!" Ruby joked, playfully hanging her tongue out of the side of her mouth.

The others laughed, including Weiss. Jaune smiled warmly at the scene in front of him.

"Oum, what did I do to receive such a blessing?" He quietly murmured to himself. Pyrrha once again laid a hand on his shoulder. This time, he didn't flinch away.

* * *

Outside of Ozpin's office:

 _'Breathe, Jaune. Just keep calm.'_ Jaune told himself.

He was outside of Ozpin's office, his friends all standing patiently behind him. Jaune took a small breath before pushing open both doors. Inside, Glynda and Ozpin were already there, waiting. Ozpin gestured to the group. "Please, come in."

Jaune and his friends all walked up to the front of Ozpin's desk. Jaune, however, through two years of training, couldn't help himself but stand at attention in front ofd a superior. Legs shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind his back, and all emotions wiped off of his face.

Ozpin frowned at his stance, and Glynda showed obvious displeasure, a small scowl appearing on her face. "Mr. Arc, you are not a soldier in the presence of your commander. Ease up." Ozpin said softly to him.

Jaune noticed his mistake, and quickly put his arms down by his sides. He chuckled slightly before turning serious in a matter of seconds. Ozpin sighed before clearing his throat.

"Back to the matter at hand. I would like you to please step down from your position as an agent." Ozpin requested, rather bluntly, Jaune might add.

"No. I'm afraid I won't."

Ozpin actually frowned at that. "Jaune, I am asking you to do this not as your headmaster, but as an elder." Ozpin replied evenly.

Jaune scowled, earning expressions of shock from his friends. Jaune went right up to Ozpin's desk and slammed his hands down onto the surface.

"I'm _sick_ and _tired_ of this. People _always_ telling me how I should live my life. I _chose_ this job Ozpin! I willingly went down this path! I'm not about to turn back now just because you guys want to keep me locked down in the _f**king academy_!" Jaune snarled, clear irritation etched into his features. He slammed his fist down on the desk when he cursed.

Glynda brought down her riding crop on top of Jaune's hand, a chilly glare being sent his way. "Language, Mr. Arc. And besides, aren't a little too inexperienced to be playing soldier?" Glynda asked, referring to Jaune's performance in school.

Jaune smirked, before laughing hysterically. "Alright then, fine. To prove my point, I'll take on both Teams (J)NPR and RWBY in a match." He stated.

PGlynda was taken aback at this, along with Jaune's friends. Ozpin merely raised an eyebrow to show his interest.

The headmaster took a sip from his mug. After he set his cup down, he nodded briefly. "Alright then Mr. Arc. If you can show us that you have the capability, then I will allow you to go back out on the field," Ozpin said, "but make no mistake, I am still against teenagers like you being agents for the government."

The last part was added after seeing Teams (J)NPR and RWBY about to argue with him. They looked like they were about to retort something, but they all backed down, albeit reluctantly.

Jaune grinned, and straightened up, taking his hands off the desk.

"Lead the way, Ozpin."

* * *

Beacon Academy, Stadium:

Jaune was in the arena, facing his friends. They all looked apprehensive, probably thinking that they might hurt him. He grinned.

He had pulled off the act successfully, a win in Jaune's book. He knew he was a terrible liar at times.

He looked down at the sheathed sword that had been strapped to his forearm. He had forgotten the family heirloom, Crocea Mors, in his rush down to the City of Vale. He caressed the surface of the sheath, admiring it's beauty as he's done many times in the past.

His friends all had their weapons out, all of them at the ready. Pyrrha was determined to find out how much he had been holding back on her. How much he had _lied_ to them.

Jaune pulled out his Atlas TRCK.45 Smart pistol from his hip holster. It was a deep, blood red, and it shot explosive bullets that locked onto the users opponent/enemy. Jaune switched on the pistol's full auto mode. With the tracking function, accuracy wasn't really necessary.

The buzzer rang, indicating the beginning of the match. Jaune began to advance, starting out with a full jog that turned into a full out sprint. His friends followed his example, exploding forwards. Once they were in striking distance of each other, Jaune vanished into thin air.

His friends all stopped, more cautious then they were in the begin info the match. Yang turned to her sister. "Is he moving around?" She asked.

Ruby shook her head. "I can't see him."

"That's because you're all looking the wrong way." A voice from behind them said. Suddenly, an explosion launched all of them away from each other, scattering them in different directions.

Jaune reappeared seconds later, standing fair distance away from his friends who were on the ground. He sighted the area in the middle of his scattered friends. The TRCK.45 beeped, and Jaune pulled the trigger. 14 bullets, 2 bullets for each person, exploded against e auras of both teams. The rounds were able to lower his friends' aura slightly, but not enough to warrant him a victory.

Pyrrha was the first to recover, and she launched herself onto him, pushing back against the flurry of devastating punches and slashes. Jaune disappeared before reappearing a few feet away from Pyrrha, putting a fair amount of distance between the two. He holstered his pistol before unsheathing his sword from his arm. He expanded his shield, and rushed to meet Pyrrha in combat.

She took the challenge and rushed forward. Jaune swung Crocea Mors in a deadly arc, right where Pyrrha's stomach would be. Pyrrha dodged, and jabbed at his chest with Milo from underneath his swing. He jumped back in response. At this point, the others had shakily gotten back to their feet. Ruby sped over to the fight and swung Crescent Rose into Jaune's abdomen. He was sent straight into the arena wall, creating a dent in the hard rock.

Teams (J)NPR and RWBY stared incredulously as Jaune wiped at a trail of blood leaking from his mouth. Thinking back, Ruby didn't remember her baby impacting Jaune's aura. Pyrrha was about to rush over to him when he began to laugh.

"I forgot that you guys aren't considered the prodigies for no reason. Well, let's step it up a notch." Jaune grinned as he took out his custom SLVR Beowulf .50 and sighted his friends. The silver rifle resembled that of an Atlesian M4, but the barrel and magazine were slightly larger to compensate for the larger caliber.

Ren recognized the rifle and retaliated, sending a steady stream of bullets towards Jaune. Jaune vanished and reappeared behind Ren. Ren whirled around but Jaune was gone once again. It was then that Ren noticed that there was something on his back. Seconds later, Ren was out of the game as the paralysis mine took out his aura. Nora brought Magnhild up and slammed it down onto the ground, creating a large shockwave that travelled quickly along the ground towards Jaune.

Jaune jumped out of the way at the last minute, before using Crocea Mors to send an upward slash towards Nora. This created a deadly arc of pure aura that impacted Nora's aura, causing the two to become unstable. Nora was blasted and sent tumbling across the ground.

Yang rushed him and sprayed rounds at him. Jaune vanished and reappeared behind her. Yang whirled around and fired, only for her shot to hit Ruby square in the chest. Ruby was sent flying backwards and she soon slid across the dirt. Yang's lilac eyes turned bright red. "You... tricked me!" She yelled angrily, before once again sending a barrage of bullets Jaune's way. Jaune danced around her shots, before using his Beowulf to stun Yang with it's .50 Caliber rounds. Seven shots from Jaune's rifle took Yang's aura down to the yellow, nearly at the red.

Ruby got back up and, using her semblance, raced towards Jaune again. This time, as Ruby swung Crescent Rose, Jaune pulsed his aura, causing the scythe to fly out of the arena into the bleachers, it's wielder coming along with it. Weiss summoned a gravity glyph, slowing Jaune down to the pace of a turtle. Sweat poured down his face as he struggled against the wait. When a victorious expression made it's way to the Schnee heiress' face, Jaune pulsed his aura again, shattering the glyph. As Weiss was recovering from the shock, Jaune fired 10 rounds at her, all of them hitting their mark and knocking Weiss' aura down to the red.

Pyrrha and Blake nodded at each other before rushing in at the same time. Pyrrha threw Milo in javelin form towards Jaune while Blake did the same with Shroud. Both weapons missed as Jaune ducked underneath them. Jaune created two chains made completely out of aura and snatched the two weapons out of the air before hurling back at their respective owners. Pyrrha managed to catch hers and resume her charge, but Shroud sent Blake spiralling into the ground as it struck her in the head.

Pyrrha and Jaune squared off again, each assessing each other carefully. Pyrrha could see the calculations going through Jaune's eyes. She decided to make the first move. She threw Akouo at him, the shield spinning through the air as it missed it's target. As Jaune was reorienting himself, Pyrrha got in front of him and slashed him with Milo in it's short sword mode, sending his aura towards the yellow. Pyrrha jumped back as he retaliated with Crocea Mors. She eyed his condition. She knew that Jaune had a lot of aura. And when she said a lot, she meant _a lot._ He didn't look even remotely tired. The only indication that he'd been active at all was his slightly labored breaths.

She tried to formulate a plan. She was the four-time Mistral Champion, for Pumpkin Pete's sake! She eyed his stance. He was wide open, his legs were elbow-width apart, and he held his rifle in his left and his sword in his right. His shield/bracer hybrid was still attached to his left arm.

She could just use her semblance.

Pyrrha nodded. She used her semblance to grip Jaune's rifle, and she threw it to he ground, prying it out of Jaune's hands violently. Jaune seemed shocked for a moment, before he quickly sheathed Crocea Mors and took out what looked like a butterfly knife.

Using a few hand tricks, he flicked the blade out to reveal a small stub from where the blade would be. From the stub, a light blue blade erupted and molded into a 30cm. long curved energy blade.

Jaune grinned. Pyrrha hadn't seen Jaune grin this much in his matches. This was a whole new side of him.

She hated it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friends, minus Ren and Weiss, pulling themselves up. Even Ruby managed to get back into the arena. Their auras, for the most part, were in the green. Except for Yang and Nora, who's auras were halfway down. Jaune didn't seem to notice, and instead charged straight towards the Spartan. He slashed at her, leaving a blue trail of energy in the blade's wake. She felt the heat emanating from the blade as she dodged out of the way, just barely missing it.

With the help of her semblance, Akouo flew back towards the two. Pyrrha was aiming to hit Jaune from behind with her shield, but he jumped to the side, narrowly missing it. Once Akouo was back in her hands, Jaune was surrounded by his friends.

"Give it up Vomit Boy! You're surrounded." He heard Yang say. He turned to her, and saw that she had a grin plastered on her face. He was going to wipe that off.

He held the butterfly knife in reverse grip, before spinning a full 360°. As he did this, the blade grew longer, extending to nearly 3m. long. The blade cut into the auras of his friends, lowering their aura bars.

Ruby shot forwards using Crescent Rose, slamming into Jaune with the scythe's blunt edge. He was pushed into Blake, who wrapped him up in a black ribbon using Gambol Shroud, before drop-kicking him into Yang, who launched him into the air using Ember Cecilia.

Nora jumped high into the air before slamming Magnhild into Jaune's abdomen, sending him hurling into the ground. When Jaune crashed into the dirt, it created a crater.

His friends all crowded around the crater to see Jaune laying down in the center, spread eagle and unmoving. A few seconds went by and Jaune still didn't move, which made Pyrrha worry. Suddenly, an explosion of aura launched all of his friends in different directions.

When they all recovered from the launch, they looked in Jaune's direction, only to find a hulking mass of white aura in his place. A large white construct of pure aura stood in the crater Jaune was in. It was 10m. tall, and it looked like a pure white knight. It's head was concealed by a helmet you would see knights wear in fairy tales. On the construct's back were two pure white angelic wings. The construct was floating above the ground, using it's wings to stay in the air. In it's gloved hand was a 8m. long staff with a double-edged blade.

The construct turned to Yang, before Jaune's laugh could be heard from it. "I think I know the answer, but I just have to ask. Who should be giving up now?" He asked.

Yang growled and sent a barrage of fiery bullets at him. Ruby sped up to him and hooked the construct's abdomen within the curve of her blade. Once the construct was caught, she used her semblance to speed away with him. She built up speed for a few seconds before stopping abruptly and swinging her scythe. Her scythe's blade folded outwards, letting the construct go. Jaune was launched into Pyrrha, who shield bashed him back a few feet. The aura construct was getting a little weaker, but victory for Jaune's friends didn't really seem to be in sight.

Pyrrha tried to manipulate Jaune's gear from within the construct, but the mass of aura was blocking her attempt. Yang attacked out frustration, sending shell after shell at Jaune. The aura seemed to absorb the pellets. Nora cackled before jumping high into the air and slamming her hammer down on Jaune, sending a pulse of electricity to add more force.

Jaune's construct was nailed into the ground, cratering the dirt beneath it. Jaune pulled himself up with a little difficulty.

"Oum, that hurt." He muttered. He pointed his staff at the two teams, and a white ball began to form at the tip.

"With thy divine light, I smite all that dare oppose thee. For it is in victory that true peace will be earned." Jaune chanted, his words echoing throughout the arena.

When the ball grew to about 3m. in diameter, Jaune slammed his staff, blade first, into the dirt. The ball of light exploded outwards, sending dirt and dust in every which way. Ozpin and Glynda, who were both in the stands, had to cover their eyes to prevent dust from getting into them. Jaune's friends were sent flying from the force of the explosion, and the impact into the ground lowered many of their aura's.

Yang's aura was dangerously close to the red, and her semblance was useless if she couldn't hit her target.

She growled. Since when was Vomit Boy so good?

Ruby was contemplating what to do next. _'Jaune's really strong! I can't believe he's been holding back this much! What do I do? Do I keep slamming him into the arena walls? Oh! Maybe I could just zoom around him until he gets really dizzy! No, that won't work. Think Ruby, think!'_

Meanwhile, Blake was catching her breath. Her aura was working on repairing what felt like a cracked rib. That last explosion had a lot of force behind it. _'How are we supposed to take him down?'_ She asked herself. She looked over to her partner, who's eyes were bright red, showing her irritation.

Pyrrha was formulating a plan. She couldn't use her semblance on him, and that aura construct seemed invincible. It'd take too long to chip away at it's aura, and Jaune's capabilities were still unknown. A scowl adorned her face. This was frustrating her to no end.

Jaune floated inside of his construct, examining his friends. All of them seemed irritated, save for Ruby, who almost never portrayed negative emotion. "Well? Are you all just going to stand there? Or is that the best you've got? I know you're better than this!"

They stood still.

Jaune charged at them. "DON'T HOLD BACK ON THIS S.O.B!" He yelled, before he jumped high into the air, a shadow falling upon his friends, and slamming back down onto the ground. Teams (J)NP(R) and R(W)BY all managed to get out of the blast radius as the arena shook once again. Something inside of Pyrrha snapped, hearing Jaune say that about himself.

Pyrrha let out a battle cry and and advanced. Jaune turned to her. "Come and get me!"

Pyrrha shield bashed him, sending the large construct reeling a little, a large slash following it soon after from Milo. Jaune's aura construct took a few steps back before kneeling down on the ground. After a few seconds of it not moving, it dissipated, letting Jaune land on the ground.

"I think I'll be a little more fair for this one. Let's see if that title is just for show!" He yelled before flipping out his energy and sword. The two locked blades, metal versus energy.

Thank goodness Milo was heat-resistant.

Jaune disengaged from the lock before coming back in, swinging downwards. The strike was blocked by Akouo, and a swing from Milo caused Jaune to jump back. Ruby suddenly appeared in front of Jaune. Crescent Rose came down up Jaune, but he sidestepped before spin-kicking the scythe out of the little red reaper's hands. Crescent Rose imbedded itself into the ground a few feet away from the two. Weaponless, Ruby took a wild swing with her fist, which was easily dodged by Jaune, before she was sent flying into Pyrrha, via high-kick.

Jaune went over to Crescent Rose before hefting it and swinging it a few times, a wicked grin came on his face. Ruby looked on in horror as Jaune advanced on Nora, Blake and Yang with her baby. Meanwhile, she was tangled with Pyrrha as the two struggled to get up. She looked back, and found that Jaune had managed to knock Yang's aura down into the red, and lowering Blake's aura as well. She saw Jaune block a blow from Nora's Magnhild before swinging the scythe in a wide arc, catching the valkyrie and sending her into the arena wall. Finally, Pyrrha and Ruby got back up, and Ruby tore right at Jaune like a bat out of hell.

Jaune was sent sprawling into the dirt as the scythe was torn out of his hands. Not even a second later, Jaune was bombarded with sniper rounds. Jaune vanished out of the line of fire and reappeared next to Ruby. He leaned into her ear.

"Crescent's really fun. Lend her to me sometime." He whispered, before vanishing again as Ruby swung at him.

The red reaper frantically looked around, and spotted her target standing a few feet away from her, Crocea Mors replacing his flip-out energy sword.

Jaune sprinted to her, letting loose a loud battle cry. Ruby did the same, and as the two team leaders were about to clash, a loud voice interrupted them.

"ENOUGH!" Ozpin commanded.

Ruby wasn't able to stop in time. Jaune crouched low and grabbed her legs, before flipping her over his back and onto the ground.

Jaune looked at the over head and found that his aura was still 5/8's full. Only Pyrrha, Ruby, Blake, and Nora were capable of continuing. Yet still, Ruby and Nora's auras were dangerously close to the red zone.

Ozpin came down from the stands and onto the arena floor. "Jaune... you have, indeed, proven yourself to be quite capable. I do not agree with what you are doing, but I respect your decision and will allow you to leave Beacon. However, I cannot say the same for your friends."

"You're damn right!" Yang cut in, pushing herself back up from the ground. "We're not letting you leave Vomit Boy."

Jaune scrubbed a hand over his face. "Guys..." He groaned.

"No Jaune, you're not leaving," Pyrrha interrupted, "not alone."

Jaune's eyes widened once he realized what she was suggesting. "No. No way in hell! You are not coming with me!"

Pyrrha went up to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Do you think we are incapable of defending ourselves Jaune?!" She yelled. Jaune smacked away her hand and pointed at the rest of his friends.

"No, I _know_ you're incapable of killing someone. And besides, the only way that you'll ever be able to come with me is if you're officially inducted into the Division. And I don't think you want that."

"We'll do it." Ruby stated as she joined in on the conversation.

"No Ruby, you won't. You guys seriously don't get it do you? Are you all really ready to end someone's life? It's not how you see it in games and movies Ruby. Once you kill somebody, they aren't coming back. There's no _respawn_ or _resurrection_." Jaune argued, glaring slightly at Ruby.

Yang pushed Jaune away from her. "Hey, lay off my sister!"

"No, she needs to know _sooner_ rather than _later,_ Yang. You and I both know that."

"I know Jaune!" Ruby yelled. Jaune turned to her, his mouth open to retort, but the words died in his mouth as he saw the tears streaming down her face.

"I know how death works..." She mumbled, her words nearly incomprehensible under her tears and sniffles.

Jaune's gaze softened, before he kneeled down and looked up at Ruby's face, which hung low in sadness.

He laid a comforting hand on her arm. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I didn't mean to bring up anything." He said soothingly. Ruby still said nothing.

Jaune sighed, before a small smile came upon his face. "Look, I'm just worried about you. All of you. You haven't seen what these people will do to you, and I pray you never do. As it is, Beacon's about to be over run, and the JDF is runned thin." Jaune explained.

His expression turned grim. "You guys have to understand why I don't want you guys out there. It's way too dangerous. I know you're all capable, but you need to leave this to us."

Weiss, who had somehow managed to keep her white dress clean, marched up to Jaune. "And do you honestly think we'll accept that?" She questioned.

Jaune didn't back down. "You don't need to accept it. You just have to know it, and do it."

In the distance, an explosion could be heard from the arena. Noticing this, Jaune made his way to the exit. Before he could leave, however, Ruby was in front of him, blocking the way.

"I won't let you go, Jaune." She stated, hefting Crescent Rose in scythe form. Soon, all of Jaune's friends stood in his way, blocking he entrance.

Jaune's hand twitched, and it closed up into a tight fist. He sighed in frustration. "Fine. I'll... I'll arrange something with Faye and see if you can tag along." He relented.

All of his friends' faces lit up. "But if she denies it, then it's not my fault. And I won't be above saying 'I told you so.'" He added. Jaune gently pushed his way through his friends. Noticing that they weren't behind him, he turned to them, an expectant look upon his face.

"Well? Are you coming or what?" He asked, a familiar wide smile finding it's way onto his face. His friends stood beside him in the blink of an eye.

Teams JNPR and RWBY were back together, once again.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright guys! I did it! Finally! I know you guys have been waiting for an update, but as I previously said before above, homework is being a pain. So, I might be able to update next week... maybe? Then again, that's a big freakin' maybe. Alright guys, I'll see you all in the next one. **

**IU13 out!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! Hooray! Also, to anyone wondering about Savior, then no, I have not given up on it. Writer's block just hit me like a truck for a little while. I'm glad to say that chapter 4 should be out soon! Maybe... next week? I'll try to have it out by May 15th (Sunday), but if I don't, then it might be a few days later. Anyway, let's move onto the review replies!**

 **reader: I know right? Also... you'll just have to wait and see~. I don't want to spoil anything, even if it's something small like this.**

 **pataponvideo: Oh, maybe~.**

 **AllenFierte: Thank you for that! Also, I agree with you. I do enjoy Loot and Shoot games, but I do enjoy myself some CoD or Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Was that what you were referring to when you said 'Hack and Slash'?**

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15: I appreciate the support! Thank you!**

 **Guest: Oh, you know I will~.**

 **frostcat69: Then here's the update! Also, thanks for that! It'll be fixed by the time I update this fic.**

 **Guest: And I will be!**

 **Mr Fizz: Thanks! I hope not to disappoint!  
**

 **Gilgamesh The King of Heroes: Well... I mean... yeah, I suppose so. I was writing that chapter with the thought of the Fall Maiden in mind. Um... to any who reads this, and you have not watched Volume 3, then go watch it to see what I mean.**

 **Kamencolin: Thank you! I will!  
**

 **Guest: Here it is!**

 **I will reply to the other reviews next chapter! I just want to reply to all of the others that I hadn't spoken to yet. So NO I HAVE NOT IGNORED ANY OF YOU!**

 **ANYWAYS, ENJOY!**

 **WHY AM I STILL TYPING IN ALL CAPS AND BOLD?!**

* * *

 **City of Vale, Wolves Den Safehouse:**

Jaune was smiling as he saw his friends attempting to negotiate with his friend and senior, Faye Lau. Needless to say, the odds were in the lone Division Agent's favor.

"I don't think you want to be at the business end of these guys, children. These f**kers will not hesitate to mutilate you. Just ask Agent O'Riley, he's six feet under the dirt with a missing leg and eyeball." Jaune heard Faye say calmly. He heard the gasps of his friends, and he let out a small chuckle.

He waited patiently while his friends talked with Faye. "We still want to help! We can't just let people put themselves in danger while we're stuck in the academy, safe and sound." Pyrrha voice retorted, her words lined with a tone of irritation.

There was a pause for a few seconds, before Faye responded. "I appreciate and admire your willingness to help, but this isn't a job for kids your age."

Yang was next. "Then what about Jaune? How come he's here then?" She questioned.

"Jaune has undergone military training, and he has already been approved of by the RNG. If you have any complaints, go to the council with em'." Faye replied evenly.

The boy in question silently chuckled. No doubt they would go to the council with their complaints. "Hopefully, they'll just leave it alone."

* * *

 **Later, in Warehouse #36:**

"I should've just kept my mouth shut." Jaune muttered to himself as he watched over his friends. They were overlooking a map of Vale, trying to find the safest route to the Valean Council. He rolled his eyes before casually taking out a lighter and lighting the map on fire. His friends all jumped away from the table that the burning piece of paper lay.

Pyrrha sent a glare his way. "Why'd you do that Jaune?" She questioned.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "You guys agreed to come with me, not to go to the Valean Council." He replied before turning away.

A beep from his earpiece indicated a transmission from ISAC. "Hostages detected, eliminate hostiles and retrieve hostages. Analyzing data, confirmed. Marking coordinates now."

Jaune turned to his friends. "C'mon. We have to retrieve a few hostages. From the Liners, no doubt."

Ruby was the first to his side. "Who are the Liners?" She asked. Jaune turned to her.

"You know Liners Correctional Facility, on Liners Island? It's on the East River in between Kings and the mainland Longs. The Liners are escaped criminals from there." Jaune explained.

"Oh. O-Okay. So what do we do? Arrest them or something?" Ruby asked.

Jaune sighed. "No Ruby. We have to kill them."

All of Jaune's friends, who were walking behind the pair before, stopped dead in their tracks. Blake was the first to speak. "I'm not exactly a stranger to killing, but I didn't do it often. But... are you sure? We can turn them in to-"

"Blake, we can't. They have guns, and they aren't like those White Fang members. These guys are murderers, kidnappers, robbers... rapists." Jaune added that last part quietly. Everyone's faces, aside from Ruby, contorted in disgust.

"As Faye said, these guys will not hesitate to kill you. Worse, they take you. In any case, I'm not going to let that happen. Not on my watch," Jaune stated, before continuing to the coordinates, "now we have to hurry, before they do anything to the hostages."

* * *

 **Vale Streets:**

"...-cause it's not right!" Ruby argued. Jaune sighed for the umpteenth time today.

"For fu**'s sake Ruby! How many times do I have to explain it to you?!" He questioned.

"If we don't kill them, then they have the chance of coming back and killing innocents! A chance that I would rather not take!"

"But it's not-"

"So what, you want innocent people dead because you couldn't kill one guy? And I don't care if he's 'not gonna escape from jail.' Of course he f**king will. He did it once, what's stopping him from doing it again?"

"The police!" Ruby responded confidently.

"Which is already run thin! Monty Oum Ruby!"

Weiss pushed the two away from each other. "Arguing won't get us to the hostages any faster. We should hurry."

Jaune grunted. "You want to see what I do in this line of work? Then stay back and let me handle this." After that, Jaune took off at a speed that matched Ruby's semblance.

Ruby noticed this. "What the-?"

"C'mon guys!" Nora exclaimed before immediately giving chase, the rest soon following after.

* * *

 **Apartment Complex 145, Eighth Floor:**

Jaune was currently walking through the hallways of the apartment complex, his SLVR Beowulf .50 in his hands. He turned the corner, only to be met with a rush of cold wind.

Wait... wind?

There was a huge hole in the side of the building. Jaune peeked his head out of the building and looked down, and then back up. The hole blew out the side of the building starting from the third floor to tenth floor. Then, out of the corner of his eye, atop of one of the buildings, he saw a glare, which one would see on a sniper scope.

He quickly whipped out his Covert SRS and aimed. What he found was Team RWBY, all lining the roof of the building with binoculars. The glare that he had seen was from the scope of Ruby's Crescent Rose. He sighed, lowered his weapon, and gave a small wave to his friends. "Wait, where's Pyrrha, Ren and Nora?" He asked himself.

He turned back to the problem at hand with a grunt. He'd deal with that later. He replaced his Covert SRS with his SLVR Beowulf and continued his way through the apartment complex. He stopped at the corner just as he hear voices. The voices were male according to their deep and rough tone. "Hey, when we gonna get that money from the Cops? It's cold up in here." A man said.

"Man, I don't know. Why the fu** you asking me for?" Another man replied.

"Just wonderin'. Still, it's cold."

Jaune quickly put and end to their conversation by pulling out his Atlas TRCK .45 pistol and killing them instantly. The gunshots echoed throughout the building, and Jaune heard footsteps approaching after a few moments.

"Oh my Oum! They killed Kenny!" One guy said, sighting the end of the hallway where Jaune was.

"You bastard!" Another cried out, before charging straight at Jaune with a pump-action shotgun.

Jaune popped out, surprising the charger. He died with an expression of shock forever etched onto his face, and a bullet hole going straight through his skull. The body fell, and the other Liner shot at him with a stolen Mistralian AK-47. Jaune vanished and reappeared next to the Liner, his Atlas TRCK .45 aimed at the guy's head.

"Well hello there," Jaune greeted before shoving the barrel of the gun into the guy's skull.

"Key. Now." He commanded. The Liner shakily gave the key to him, and his body fell to the floor as a bullet pierced his skull. Jaune unlocked the door 'Kenny' and the other Liner were guarding. He stepped aside to let out the hostages, which consisted of two teenage girls, and a family of three with a little boy.

"C'mon, up and at 'em. We gotta move, fast." Jaune said as the hostages followed him. He heard the sound of rapid footsteps coming from the hallway to his right, and another set of rapid footsteps coming from the hallway to his left. The first to reach Jaune and the hostages were three people. Three people that Jaune instantly recognized.

"Pyrrha! Ren! Nora! I need you guys to get the hostages out of here! We got Liners converging on our position-!"

"Not anymore." A voice said from beside him. Jaune whirled around and found Cole and Faye, both aiming their guns down the hallway where the footsteps came from. The Liners that came through were bombarded with bullets, and their dead bodies soon littered the floor. Faye rushed towards the hallway the Liners came from.

"Come on! We need to get moving! Protect the hostages!" Faye called out to the others as they followed her. The sound of gunfire drew her attention behind her. Jaune was kneeling down on the ground, his rifle pouring bullets down the hallway. Pyrrha made to grab him, until an Aura Piercing round penetrated Jaune's side, and he fell to the ground, still firing down the hallway.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha screamed. Faye and Cole rushed back to cover Team (J)NPR as they recovered Jaune. Pyrrha rushed to his side and hooked her arms underneath his armpits, dragging him backwards to safety. One of the hostages, the husband in the family of three, rushed over to him. Pyrrha was about to tell him off, but he cut her off.

"I'm a doctor." He stated, before looking over Jaune's wound. It was deep, and it would take at least an hour to heal. Even with aura, it was still going to be at least half-an-hour.

Faye returned to the group of taking care of the threat. "How is he?"

The man shook his head. "He'll live, but right now, he's in no condition to fight." The man immediately ducked to the ground as a sniper round took out a chunk of the wall that he was hiding behind.

"Cole! Take out that sniper, now! We won't be able to move on otherwise!" Faye ordered.

Cole grunted in response. "Don't have to tell me twice," He muttered before swapping out his Atlesian Vector 54 for his Division-issue M1A1. With terrifying speed, he sighted the sniper's skull and pulled the trigger. The sniper fell off the roof of the building and the hit the ground with a loud thud.

Faye pulled Jaune to his feet. "Let's go! Double time!" Jaune grunted but moved nonetheless. Suddenly, a Liner appeared in front of the group with a shotgun aimed at them. But a sniper bullet from Crescent Rose knocked him to the side as it impacted the aura around his leg. Faye finished the guy off by loading bullets into the guy's face.

The group continued to move through the hallways of the apartment complex, the occasional round from Crescent Rose knocking a few Liners out of hiding to be taken care of.

Jaune and his friends finally stumbled out of the apartment complex and retreated down the street. Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and contacted Ruby. "Ruby! I need you and your team down here! We're at the intersection of Smithson Lane and Wherle Road!"

"On it!"

Pyrrha put her scroll away and changed Milo into it's rifle form, before she sighted the head of a Liner. She hesitated. Her finger was itching towards the trigger, without her consent. Out of the blue, the man that Pyrrha had sighted had his head cracked open by a round from Jaune's Covert SRS. He was beside her, his gaze on her, worry etched into his features.

"I told you you couldn't do it." Jaune murmured, loud enough for Pyrrha to hear. She looked over at her other two teammates, who were having trouble with the same thing. Jaune pulled out his Atlas TRCK .45 and killed two Liners as they charged at Ren and Nora with machetes.

"You're all too clean." Jaune murmured, before he pulled himself away with a grunt and joined Faye and Cole as they took out Liners one by one. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha were behind the three, not able to do anything.

' _He's right. I... I just can't pull the trigger.'_ Pyrrha thought, looking down at her hands. Ren and Nora were having similar thoughts, but their gaze was on their leader.

Jaune's expression at the current moment was neutral, devoid of emotion. His sapphire eyes glowed orange with each flash of the muzzle of his gun. Slowly, the amount of Liners charging at them dwindled down, before all that was left were the corpses of dead criminals.

Pyrrha stared at the scene in horror. She saw the face of one of the dead, his features scrunched up in pain. A weak groan came out from behind one of the cars. A survivor attempted to crawl away. A bullet stopped him as it penetrated his heart. Pyrrha stared on in shock at the display. She looked at Faye and Cole, but found that their weapons were at their sides. She looked at Jaune. The barrel of his Atlas TRCK .45 was smoking as he lowered it. He holstered his gun before kneeling.

Ren and Nora were watching their team leader with mixed emotions. Ren was revolted at the brutality, but also afraid of what Jaune, his team leader and friend, had just done. Nora wasn't as energetic as she normally was. Her thoughts were scattered, desperately trying to convince her heart that Jaune was not a killer. That he was the warm, kind, and loving big brother who wouldn't hurt a fly. She tried to convince herself that Jaune was the big bro she thought of him as, but... that wasn't him right now. Right now, he's a Division Agent. Cold and brutal. Faye and Cole were the only ones who were unaffected as they merely turned and walked away, with the hostages in tow. Jaune was about to stand up, but he caught the sight of Pyrrha's feet, standing in front of him.

He looked up and met her horrified gaze. Jaune looked away before forcing himself to his feet. Team RWBY arrived moments later, and they gazed at the bloody scene before them.

Yang forced Ruby to turn away, who gladly complied as she tried to erase the image. Corpses and blood were everywhere. Pools of the red liquid covered the asphalt of the streets, and the corpses lay in their own puddles, lifeless and unmoving. Blood was spattered across various objects: the wall of a cafe, a mailbox on the street, a trashcan on the sidewalk. Blake, Weiss, and Yang all turned away from the sight in disgust. Yang glanced at Jaune, who was trying to walk to Faye and Cole. Yang stood in front of him. He looked up.

"What?" He questioned, a harsh tone in his voice.

Yang was silent for a moment. The, she spoke. "How... How are you feeling right now?" She asked him quietly, unusual for the blonde brawler.

Jaune processed the question for a moment. "I'm... calm. It was either me, or them."

Yang socked him across the face, but he remained standing. This would have shocked Yang, under better circumstances. "How can you say that?! You just killed these people and that's all you have to say for it?!" She demanded.

Jaune snorted before pushing past her. "You don't understand." He muttered.

Yang pulled him back. "I think I do!" She argued.

"No... you don't."

"Then tell me." Yang demanded.

Jaune sighed. "Yang, do you honestly think these guys deserve to live?"

"Of course Jaune! All life is precious!" Yang snapped.

"Which is why we try to save as many lives as possible, right? But these guys... these guys take away lives. They kill people, some do it just for the hell of it, others do it for money. The world isn't as good a place as many think of it as."

"Yeah, I know that," Yang retorted, "it's just... I'm having a hard time... coming to terms with you killing these people without hesitation."

Jaune smiled humorlessly. "I don't enjoy it. But I know it's necessary. After all, somebody's gotta do the dirty work so that others don't have to. That's why there are soldiers, Yang. They fight to save the lives of those they care about. And, by extension, they are also protecting others as well. Why do you think I didn't want you guys to come with me? It's because you shouldn't have to see this."

Ruby was the next to come over to him. "And you should?"

Jaune turned to her and patted her hand. "No, but I have to. That's my job. Hunters and Huntresses kill Grimm. Soldiers kill other soldiers and bad guys. Bad guys... they just kill. I'm a soldier... technically. So I'll kill to protect. That's how I cope with it."

 **(A/N: I just want you guys to know, that I am drawing straws on this one. This is really just the generic explanation from a lot of other fanfics. It may be true, but I wouldn't know.)**

"It's still not-"

"I know. But... c'mon, we gotta hurry." Jaune dismissed the conversation and limped off to Faye and Cole. Pyrrha ran to join him and hooked an arm over her shoulder, allowing Jaune to lean on her for support. Jaune gave her an appreciative smile, and they both continued to walk.

Ren, Nora, and team RWBY stayed behind to glance at the carnage once more. Blood began to pool together in the middle of the street. The street itself was barren, void of any civilians or any kind of life except for them. They turned away from the bloody massacre in front of them. The faces of the dead were too haunting to stare at for long.

The rest of Jaune's friend's ran to catch up to the others, and they began their trek.

* * *

 **Remnant National Postal Office; Base of Operations:  
An hour later...**

Jaune, Cole, and Faye, along with Jaune's friends and the hostages, stumbled into the Base of Operations. Pyrrha set Jaune down on top of a nearby crate, and the hostages were guided to the refugee quarters. Jaune pulled out his guns to inspect them for any damage. The barrel for his SLVR Beowulf was warped, probably from Jaune continuously firing the gun. Just as he was about to move on to his Atlas TRCK .45, he found that it was not where he put it. He looked around for it, and found it in Ruby's hands as she stared at it in wonder.

Jaune watched amused as she made a series of ooh's and ah's, before he swiped out of her hands. Ruby blinked comically before she realized the gun was no longer in her hands. She turned to Jaune, who was behind her, and pouted at him. _Full force._

Jaune stared at her unimpressed, even as she stamped her boot on the ground with her arms crossed. "Darn it." She muttered and turned her head away from him. Jaune smiled and patted her head, which didn't go unnoticed by Yang. He quickly retracted his hand as the blonde brawler aimed a heated glare at him.

He tapped Ruby on the shoulder, and she looked up at him. "Come on. I'll show you something... I think you'll like it a lot." Jaune said as he walked away. Ruby followed him, along with the rest of his friends. Ruby and Jaune were walking side-by-side, while their teammates followed them from a respectable distance.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked as she walked with a slight hop in her step. Jaune gave an innocent smile.

"Somewhere." Jaune replied dismissively. Ruby pouted at him again, giving him 120% force.

Needless to say, he crumbled.

"Fine, we're going to the Division Armory. Technically, I'm not allowed to do this, but since I owe you one, I'll make an acception." He whispered.

Ruby's eyes lit up like fireworks. The idea of seeing new guns excited her to no end. "Ooh! Ooh! Really?!" She asked excitedly, practically dancing around Jaune as he walked.

He chuckled a little before replying, "Yes, now calm down. I doubt they'll think that you're an Agent, and I don't want to have Faye on my a** about regulations and all that sh**." He said. Ruby was staring at him as if he had grown a second head.

Noticing her stare, he turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "What is it?" He asked.

Ruby mimed cleaning her ears before replying, "It's just that... I've never heard you swear before. In all honesty, you look too nice of a guy to swear."

Jaune laughed out loud. "I get that a lot. Actually, a lot of people back at Basic Training used to tell me that. Something about being too innocent? In any case, that isn't true now. I'm anything but innocent now." Jaune murmured the last part. It was mostly to himself, but Ruby managed to hear him, albeit barely.

"Hey, you're still a good guy. You just... you just have to do bad things." Ruby said in an attempt to comfort him. Jaune smiled down at her and patted her head.

"Thanks Ruby." He said. Ruby's eyes were closed and she seemed to lean into the head pat. Catching what she was doing, she immediately pulled back, her face as red as her cloak. Jaune looked down at her confused.

"What's wrong now?"

"N-Nothing!" She squeaked. Jaune sighed.

Before long, they arrived outside of a large, vault-like door. Jaune pulled back his sleeve and placed the face of his watch onto a panel beside the door. Ruby was squealing behind closed lips in anticipation. Needless to say, when the door opened, she was not disappointed.

Guns of all kinds lay against racks that were set into rows. On the right side of the room, was a long wall of lockers with various names engraved onto a silver plate that was bolted onto their doors. The room, at first glance, was pretty small. That is, until Ruby looked down one of the rows. The back of the room was nearly 100 meters away, and the room was fairly wide with about 30 meters. She sped around the room, looking at teh wide variety of weapons on the racks. Jaune heard her squealing all the way, even as the door creaked closed. She came back with a silver colored TRCK Revolver. The barrel was large in diameter, and the silver shell had what looked like feathers engraved into it.

"Hey Jaune, who's is this?" She asked.

"That," he said as he swiped it out of her hands, "is-"

"Mine." A voice said from behind him. Jaune whirled around, only to be met face-to-face with Faye Lau. "Hey Jaune."

"H-Hey."

Faye looked at the gun in his hands. "Why do you have my Hawkmoon?" She asked.

"Ruby wanted to see it." He replied nervously.

' _Oum, if I had a dime for every time this woman intimidated me, I'd probably be a hundred thousand richer.'_ He thought.

"Who's Ruby?" She asked. She spotted Ruby hiding behind Jaune's back. She looked around him, and the girl shyly looked away.

"Oh? You brought a girl in here, did you?" She asked with a cheshire grin.

"Yeah... W-Wait! No! She's a weapons enthusiast! And for Oum's sake Faye, she's fifteen!" Jaune exclaimed.

Faye's grin dropped as she plucked her Hawkmoon out of his hands. "Ruby, right?" She asked.

Ruby slowly came out from behind Jaune. "Y-Yes?"

Faye sighed and held out the handle of the gun to her. "Take care of her, okay? She's served me a ton back when I was in the military. I don't want to see any scratches on it if I see you, got it?" She said with a smile. Jaune grinned from beside her.

"Aw... That's _adorable!_ I see your maternal instincts finally came into play!" Jaune teased with a smirk. That smirk, however, died a painful death as Jaune soon found a fist lodged into his stoma- wait, no... _below_ the stomach.

"*Wheez* My... balls... ugh..." Jaune fell to the floor, clutching his jewels in pain. Faye was glaring furiously at him, her aura behind her whipping wildly like fire.

Ruby desperately tried to suppress a giggle, but she couldn't help it. She was rolling around on the floor laughing hysterically.

"You... just wait... Ruby... Rose... when I... take... away all of... of your coo-... cookies..." Jaune groaned from the floor. At that, Ruby immediately sprung up and kicked him...

right between the legs.

Jaune passed out from the pain. Ruby's furious expression grew worried when she noticed that Jaune didn't seem to be breathing. Faye slung an arm over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about that idiot. He'll be fine. He's just... incapacitated for the moment."

Ruby looked back at him. "Riight... Um... Anyways, can I... y'know... really have this?" She asked, holding up the Hawkmoon.

"Yeah. Think of it as... an apology gift." Faye replied.

Ruby blinked in confusion and tilted her head. "What for?"

Faye's expression darkened. "Kids your age... they shouldn't have to see that."

"See what?" Ruby questioned, still not getting it.

Faye turned to her with a serious expression. "Ruby... how did you feel when you saw us... killing the Liners?" Faye asked cautiously.

Ruby processed the question, and she finally realized what this was all about. "I-I don't know. I was... scared? I think I was disappointed as well. Mostly in Jaune, I think. He said he always wanted to be a hero, but..."

Faye lay a hand on her shoulder. "Listen Ruby, not all heroes can go about their career without killing. Jaune's great-great grandfather was a hero, and yet he slayed hundreds of people, in the name of justice."

"But killing isn't right!" Ruby argued.

"It may not be right, but it is necessary. No doubt Jaune already spoke to you about this, but... just think about it this way. If you let one bad person live, you may have just let ten innocent people die by their hands. Can you really sleep with a clean conscience with that in mind?" Faye explained. Ruby slowly shook her head in response.

"That's how we see it. If I kill one bad guy, then I just saved one or more good guys. I know that Jaune... isn't exactly the best at explaining things. So it may have been a little confusing if he explained it to you. But still, you gotta understand that. Alright?" Faye said.

Ruby nodded. She looked down at the gun in her hands. "H-How does it work?"

Faye grinned before gently taking it away from her. "Much like Jaune's 'Conviction II', his pistol, the round's fired from the gun track their target. Although in this gun, you have a smaller targeting window because the bullets travel faster. Mine's a revolver, obviously. Jaune's fires in full-auto, just a bit shy of the Haven Glock 18."

Faye went over to Jaune, who was still unconscious, and took his Conviction II TRCK .45 out of his holster. She showed it to Ruby, who carefully inspected it. It did look like Haven's Glock 18, even the extended magazine was present. Ruby took the gun and looked down it's sights. There were green lights on the back for night-time engagements.

"How long has he had this gun? It feels a little... worn." Ruby primed the gun and inspected the chamber.

"He's had it for a while now. Every Division agent received one on the first day of Basic Training. Of course, there was a choice between a heavy pistol, a light pistol, and a revolver. Jaune, the lucky bastard, got a second pistol in his second year. He named it Red Spectre, and it was a heavy pistol. Although, I don't know where it is... hold on." Faye walked over to one of the lockers on the wall and opened it. She pulled out a bunch of items, ranging from photos, to bullets, to magazines, and even a folded up red and grey rifle. She held up the rifle.

"Ah! Here's his pride and joy. Other than his SLVR Beowulf, which he named Zarinaea-D, he loves his rifle. Here, catch." Faye tossed the folded rifle to Ruby, who caught it carefully.

"He uses that along with his Red Spectre, most of the time. That rifle, is named Red Death." Faye pointed to the rifle. It was... certainly red. Hopefully, the splatters at the end of the barrel were paint and not _actual_ blood.

"Don't worry, it's paint." Faye assured her, seeing Ruby looking at the red splatter patterns queasily. Ruby sighed in relief as she folded out the stock. It was unique. It had a bayonet at the end of the barrel, and their was a slope above the chamber. At the back of the slope was a red LED ammo counter with a skull and crossbones. On top of the slope rested the sights, two prongs with a single dot in the middle. She looked for the safety switch, however, she found that it was already switched to three-round burst.

"Uh... doesn't Jaune know to switch on the safety of all unused firearms?" Ruby asked.

"Oh he knows. It's just that the safety switch on that rifle is, for some reason, jammed." Faye explained as she continued to look through Jaune's locker.

"Huh."

"Found it!" Faye exclaimed as she pulled out a large pistol.

"Monty Oum this thing is heavy!" Faye raised the pistol with obvious difficulty.

"Oh come on, it can't be that heaVY!" Ruby exclaimed when Faye tossed the pistol to her. Her arms immediately strained under the extreme weight of the pistol.

"W-What... the heck... is this... thing made of?!" She ground out as she pulled on the pistol.

Suddenly, the strain on her arms was lifted when Jaune took the Red Spectre away from her. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when jaune spun the pistol on his finger.

"Jaune! How is your finger _not_ broken right now?!" She questioned.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Jaune asked, confused.

"How is your finger able to support the weight of the gun?!"

"What do you mean? It's so light!" Jaune replied, spinning the gun on his finger again. Ruby's eyes burned in rage as she took the gun from him, it's weight once again straining her arms. She could barely even lift the gun to sight it.

"You... are... so lying!" She yelled as she still tried to lift up the gun. She saw out of the corner of her that Jaune was grinning.

"Yeah, I guess I am. I know it's heavy, but to me, it weighs about as much as Crocea Mors." Jaune explained, taking out the mentioned weapon. Jaune took the gun and instead handed Crocea Mors to Ruby. She immediately regretted taking the blade. She couldn't even lift the thing up.

Jaune sighed before taking the sword away and strapping it to his back.

Ruby was panting when she let the sword go. "How... how do you _use_ that?" She questioned. Jaune shrugged his shoulders before walking off. Ruby was about to go after him before Faye gave her Hawkmoon, which was already secured in a black holster with silver plating. She took it gratefully and headed off to find Jaune.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay guys! Longer chapter I know. Anyways, this last bit is supposed to introduce the JauneXRuby. It'll deepen out later (Hopefully). And after that, I'll start with the JauneXPyrrha pairing. Yes, he will have both of them with him throughout the story, but i want to take things a bit slow. Also, sorry if I screw up somewhere along the line. If you didn't like the way something happened, or how something was explained or worded, then _please_ tell me! But no flame though. **

**Anyways, have a wonderful day/night!**

 **IU13, out!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Here it is guys! Chapter 6! Now... let me just say this one thing.**

 **I love you guys.**

 **Not in the romantic way, mind you, but in the way that I am extremely grateful to you and care for you. I know this seems a little sentimental, but I just want you guys to know that without you, I probably would never have written as much as I have now. I progressed from being that kid that writes adventures in his little journal, into a kid that writes full** ** _stories_** **for others to read. And it's an** ** _amazing_** **feeling when people say that your story is good.**

 **Here are my replies to your reviews:**

 **Karlos1234ify: I'm really glad that you do, and I hope not to disappoint.**

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15: Yeah, it will be. Hopefully I made you cringe? Heheheheh... I guess that was a _ballsy_ move, eh? Eh? No? **

**Sorry...**

 **TopHatGuy: Well, here's the confirmation then: Yes it will be.** **And I'm sorry that it wasn't a few _days_ but a few _weeks._ At least I think that was the gap. Well... Here it is!**

 **kloensy1: Mmmmaaaaaybeeeeee? I do happen to love my Deatiny though, so cookie for you! Also, you forgot Red Spectre and Convicition II (New Monarchy Sidearm). But it's fine!**

 **Kharn: I'm glad you did. That was my goal in the first place, however, I don't think I did a good job at explaining it though. But thank you!**

 **Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: I'm going to try and evenly distribute the "punishment" amongst the other characters, and not just the male ones. But I'm glad you like how I'm writing, I really appreciate that.**

 **IWEYC: Glad you love it! Hopefully, any mistakes I make will diminish in quantity as time goes on, but other than that, thank you!**

 **Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I won't prolong your long-deserved reading time.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
** **In the shooting range...**

Ruby laid down Hawkmoon on the cold metal surface of the table in front of her. She looked at the target that was about 30 yards away. Using the little remote, the paper target moved towards her, showing her grouping. Most of the shots landed center-mass, but a few of them had landed a little low. She sighed as she inspected Hawkmoon.

"Is the targeting function not working properly? Maybe the camera needs tuning..." She muttered to herself. She was inspecting the little blue light hanging underneath the barrel, which was, in fact, the camera.

"Maybe it's off-set? How do you even..." Ruby grunted as she tried to move the device, but it was secured tightly onto the gun. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around and nearly pulled the trigger, had it not been for the person disarming her. She held her arm in pain as Hawkmoon was taken away from her. She looked up into the sapphire eyes of a certain Jaune Arc as he grinned, spinning the Hawkmoon in his hand.

"What the heck Jaune?! Don't scare me like that when I have a gun!" Ruby exclaimed. The blonde knight only chuckled.

"But I disarmed you, didn't I?"

Ruby pouted. "That's not the point!"

Jaune rolled his eyes. "A~nyways, Yang is looking for you. You... you do know that you've been down here for an hour and a half, right?" Jaune asked, gesturing to the firing range. Ruby looked around. The firing range was what used to be the basement of the Post Office, but repurposed for firearms training. The walls were of solid two-inch steel, and the floor was made of concrete. Towards the entrance, there were tables set in a line across the width of the large room. From the tables to the back of the room, it was about 50 yards across, or 150 feet. On the roof of the basement, there were thin, wire lines that held up the targets, and they were rigged to an electronic pulley system, allowing the shooter to change the target's distance.

Observing her surroundings once more, Ruby finally processed Jaune's question. "I-I have? I guess I was just excited about having a new weapon to look at. I've never seen this type of weapon before."

Jaune chuckled. "You're talking about the tracking feature, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah."

"I don't know how it works either. Something about it sending out magnetism waves that guide the metal of the bullet? I don't know exactly. If you want to know more, Faye knows all about it. But right now, you need to get to your sister. She's upstairs in the refugee quarters."

"Okay, I'll go up after this last cartridge." Ruby said as she loaded said object into Hawkmoon. "

Jaune stood beside her. "I'll watch you."

Ruby nodded and shot a few down range. "Hey Jaune?" She asked, not looking at him.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you join the Division?" She asked.

There was a moment of silence, and Ruby fired, the gunshot ringing throughout the room.

"I joined when I was 15. Back then, I was young, innocent to the world. I wanted to be the hero, the one who would save all of Remnant with my sword in hand," Jaune paused with a smile on his face, "I remember those days. I would constantly ask my dad if I could become a Huntsman. He would always say that, I would be the best in the world. But now... I know the truth. I can't save everyone. And I am never _the_ best, but I damn well strive to be the best that I _can_ be. I joined because I want to help as many people as possible."

"What if... it meant sacrificing one your friends?" Ruby asked, slowly. She was a little scared to his answer, if she were being honest.

"I... don't know, Ruby... I don't know..." Jaune murmured. Ruby fired off her last round and holstered her gun after she put in a fresh cartridge. She walked up the stairs to the Main Floor, with Jaune following from a fair distance. Looking back at him, Ruby thought that he looked lost, deep in thought. Maybe she went a little too far.

"Hey, Jaune-"

"Ruby!" Ruby was immediately swept into a bone-crushing hug by Yang.

"Sis... can't... breathe..." Ruby barely managed to wheeze out. She was dropped onto her feet before Yang began inspecting her.

"Where have you been? You've been gone for nearly two hours! Did Vomit-Boy do something to you?" Yang asked the last question while punching her right fist into her open left palm.

"No! I just got a new gun from Jaune's friend, that's all!" Ruby exclaimed, holding up Hawkmoon to show them.

Weiss looked at the revolver before frowning. "How come I've never heard of this model of firearm?" She questioned.

"That, Ice Queen, is because the SDC is not a government power." A voice said from behind her.

Turning around, Weiss saw that it had been Faye Lau, Jaune's supposed comrade, that had spoken. "Even though you hold a large amount of influence in Remnant, you aren't told of all the things happening in Remnant's government. After all, if you were, then you would be considered the most powerful company in the world."

Weiss frowned but nodded anyway.

"I came here to collect Jaune, we've got an op in two hours on a supposed Cleaners' hideout." Faye explained, walking over to Jaune, who was still in thought.

"Oi, kid. Get your head out of simulation mode and get your a** to the Control Room." Faye said, lightly flicking the boy's forehead. Jaune was jolted from his daze and he looked around in confusion.

"Wh-Wha?"

Faye jerked thumb behind her. "Get to the Control Room, we got an op in two hours and we need you there. Benitez will tell you what to do once you're there. As for me, I'm going to be getting into contact with a new Division Agent. I'll meet you there once I've brought the guy or girl in here, Jaune." Faye said as she began to walk away.

"Wait!" Pyrrha called out. Faye turned around with an annoyed expression.

"What is it Cereal-Girl?"

The Mistralian Champion blushed at the nickname, but continued nonetheless. "You're talking as if we aren't going to participate in this operation."

Faye sighed. "Yeah, because you're not."

Ruby piped up this time. "Why?!" She exclaimed.

"Because, if you want to know the truth, you'd be a liability. Judging from earlier today, you guys haven't had a first kill yet. And no, before you go and say that you have, I'm not talking about Grimm. I'm talking about another human being. So, with that said, you guys are going to be sitting this one out." Faye explained.

Yang's eyes turned crimson red. "That's bullsh**!" She yelled.

Like a ghost, Faye vanished into thin air, much like Jaune did, and reappeared behind Yang. Soon she had the blonde brawler in an arm bar on the ground. Yang cried out in pain as Faye pulled.

"Faye, stop it." Jaune said as he tapped her shoulder.

Faye huffed. "Yeah, yeah." She relented, letting go of Yang's arm.

Yang rolled away while holding her arm, tending to it.

"If it had been an enemy instead of me, you would have been dead." Faye stated coldly as she walked away.

Jaune and his friends all stared at the retreating figure of the Division Agent, before their attention was directed at Jaune. He noticed the pleading look in their eyes, and shook his head.

"Sorry guys, can't help you. I've gotta go now, so I'll see you all later." Jaune said. Before anyone could say otherwise, he had already jogged away to wherever the control room was.

His friends could only sigh.

* * *

 **Time Skip:  
Two Hours Later...**

Jaune stepped out of the armory with Red Death, Red Spectre, and Conviction II on his person. His heavy pistol, Red Spectre, which for some reason Ruby thought was too heavy to use, was holstered on Jaune's back, right above his tailbone. Conviction II, his main sidearm, was holstered on his right thigh. Red Death was holstered on his backpack while he carried the Zarinaea-D in his hands. He was wearing a black tactical vest, Division-issue shin guards, and a black helmet that ended right above his ears. He slipped on his black-tinted glasses as he entered the main lobby of the Post Office. To his right, there was the Refugee Quarters, where his friends should be residing. He waited for the built-in HUD on the goggles to activate, gazing at the pitch-black surface that covered his eyes. Suddenly, light flooded his irises as the HUD activated, showing his ammunition, his weapons, and how much aura he had. **(A/N: If you search up "Division HUD", then you'll see what it looks like. His health bar above his weapons is his aura-meter.)**

After he checked to make sure that the HUD was working properly, he turned to the refugee quarters and walked inside. The quarters were fairly small, considering that it was accommodating about 200 people at a time, but it was large enough that children were able to play around. He glanced at a group of kids that were kicking a soccer ball around in what he assumed was a makeshift soccer field, even though the field was only about 7-feet long. He saw his friends ahead, tending to the needs of a few refugees. He let a smile creep onto his face as he watched his partner help an elderly woman onto a plastic chair. The leader of team RWBY was currently handing out rations, and Weiss was giving drinks. It was amusing to Jaune to see Weiss use her semblance to make an ice machine for cold drinks.

Ren saw him walking and waved him over, to which Jaune complied. Once he was standing in front of the green gunman, he heard Ren let out a low whistle.

"You like you're ready for war." He said as he cleaned a table with a wet rag, a spray bottle occupying his other.

"Yeah, they said that we would need everything we had." Jaune replied. There was a moment of silence as Ren cleaned the table.

"Hey... Ren?" The Arc boy suddenly asked.

"Yeah?"

"If... If I don't come back... tell everyone that-"

"Don't talk like that." Ren cut him off. Jaune looked at his friend, and he was surprised to see that Ren was actually _angry._

"But you know that I might not." Jaune argued.

"Stop it!" Ren exploded. Jaune was taken aback by the sudden exclamation, but he left the subject alone.

"I... I came here to say bye. I'm leaving in a few minutes." He said.

"I wish you good luck then, Jaune. And you _will_ come back. I know it." Ren encouraged, before returning to his work.

Jaune smiled. "Thanks Ren."

He walked towards the food stand where team RWBY was. Ruby was the first to see him, and he saw her jab her teammates and point to him.

"Hey guys." He greeted as he walked around the counter.

"Hey Jaune." Yang greeted back as she cooked hot dogs behind Ruby. Again, he found it amusing that she was using her own flame to fuel the grill.

Ruby stepped away from the counter after serving the last refugee their food. "Hey Jaune! Woah..." She said in awe as she gazed upon his gear.

"You look like-" Weiss started.

"Yeah, I know, like I'm ready for war. Which I am." Jaune finished for her.

Yang walked over to them with a smile. "Hey Vomit-Boy! What's up?"

"I'm leaving in a few minutes, so I won't be back until... maybe two days from now." Jaune told the group. Blake came over, having heard the conversation with her cat ears.

"And why so long for an operation?" She questioned.

Jaune shrugged. "That's how it normally goes, according to some of the older Division agents. We do the op, then we're responsible for securing the whole place for the government. We'll have to wait a full day before they'll be able to send any form of military our way."

Blake nodded in understanding, and went back to taking inventory.

Suddenly, a voice called out from behind the White Knight. "Hey, Jaune!"

Said agent turned and found Cole running towards him, wearing gear identical to his.

"We're leaving soon! I already said goodbye to Stephanie, so let's go!" He said, pulling Jaune away.

"But-"

"No, Jaune. I do not want Faye on my a** again. So we gotta split, now." Cole ordered, walking out of the building with Jaune in tow.

"I'll see you guys later!" Jaune yelled to his friends.

After hearing a few faint agreements, he gave a sad smile. "Hopefully." He muttered.

* * *

 **Haven; City of Vale:  
On the streets...**

A large group of about 20 Division agents gathered together outside of a large building, a ValeMart, to be exact, which was being used as a Base of Operations for the Cleaners. They hid in the shadow of night, pressed up against the dark walls of the supermarket. Cole signaled Jaune, who was on the opposite side of the entrance door. He nodded, and quietly forced open the sliding door. He pulled out the pin of a smoke grenade and threw it inside. Once smoke started to leak through the entrance, they quietly rushed in, with Jaune and Cole in the front. Guns at the ready, the large party of agents checked all of their corners and proceeded into the store.

* _It's quiet. Too quiet._ * One of the agents said through the radio.

* _Then I suggest you be quiet as well.*_ Cole responded to him.

Nothing was said after that. The only sounds in the entire building were the near-silent footsteps of the agents as they entered the building. Jaune nudged Cole.

"Something's not right. I'm thinking a trap." He whispered.

Cole nodded, and held up a fist, signaling the other agents to stop. "Stay alert. Be prepared for an ambush." He whisper-yelled to them.

 _'Why do I have the feeling that sh** is about to hit the fan?'_ Cole thought. He shouldered his ACR-E and followed Jaune and Faye. He observed the surroundings.

Shelves were left barren, with all of their merchandise left scattered and trampled on the floor. Most of the lights were shut off, with only the occasional flicker of a fluorescent light from above being the only source of light.

 _'They're probably going to turn on the lights to startle us.'_ He thought. And, curse his luck, that is exactly what happened.

The lights suddenly turned on, blinding a few of the agents. A loud cry came from the shelf next to them, and the shelf collapsed on top of a few more agents. Minutes later, bullets flew as the Division agents that remained standing opened fire on the Cleaners that had pushed the shelves over. Other agents grabbed the incapacitated and pulled them out from underneath the shelves. The agents retreated to the frozen foods aisle of the store, using the freezers as cover. They stopped at the back, where there were no openings behind them. Agents leaned out of cover, taking down Cleaners one after another. But for every Cleaner that fell, three more came to take their place.

Jaune grunted. _'I'm running out of ammo.'_ He thought.

Once his Red Death was out of rounds, he pulled out his Zarinaea-D and opened fire. He took out a wave of Cleaners with one magazine, only for more Cleaners to come out.

"They don't stop coming!" One of the agents yelled.

"Gah!" Came the surprised cry of one of the agents as a bullet penetrated his aura. Before anyone could help him, more bullets followed and tore through his body, jerking his already-dead body this way and that. He fell to the floor, blood pooling around the corpse.

" **YOU BASTARDS!** " Yelled another agent. She yelled as she threw grenades everywhere, shaking the building as the explosions rattled the infrastructure. Pieces of roof began to crumble, even as bullets tore into the ceiling.

"We need backup! Now!" Jaune yelled into the radio.

He ran out of cover and surrounded himself in aura, becoming a knightly construct purely made out of Jaune's soul. He swung his glaive around, destroying aisles, freezers, and Cleaners alike. with the added height, Jaune could see just how many Cleaners they were fighting. Cleaners came piling through the doors, all rushing in to kill the Division agents within the store.

Jaune was having none of it.

With a roar that shook the building, he summoned a ball of pure aura, before running into the middle of the crowd of Cleaners, stomping on any one that got in his way, and slammed the ball into the ground. Bodies and blood flew everywhere, as the resulting explosion killed all of the cleaners in the store. Jaune stormed out of the entrance, shoulder bashing the wall above the doors, and came crashing out of the supermarket. When he was outside, he was immediately bombarded with bullets. He estimated about 1'000 Cleaners gathered in total. That was about .5% of Vale's population.

Jaune spun in a circle as he swung his glaive in a wide arc, cleaving the first three rows of Cleaners right in half. He leapt into the air, slamming his fists into the ground as he landed. Behind him, Jaune could hear the supporting fire of his fellow Division agents. Suddenly, he saw another aura construct, this one made out of a light blue aura, making it's way through the Cleaners, crushing them under it's feet. It looked like a wraith, wisps of aura flowing off of a cloak of the embodiment of the soul. There was a hood that hid the face in a dark shadow.

Jaune cautiously approached it, his white knight aura construct crushing anyone standing in his way. He raised his glaive and aimed it at the construct in preparation. The wraith-like construct stopped right in front of him, ignoring the bullets that pestered it's aura-skin.

Using his aura to project his voice, he spoke to the other construct. "Who are you?" He asked.

The wraith stood silent, until it procured seven people, three in its right hand, four in its left. As soon as he identified the seven people, Jaune's blood boiled.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" He yelled, his aura construct pushing the other towards cover. Once he deemed they were safe, he looked down at the seven familiar people.

His friends.

"First you pose as agents, nearly get yourselves killed, and now this?!" He questioned, anger evident in his voice.

A certain Red Reaper piped up. "But we wanted to help!" She argued. Jaune groaned and turned on the other construct.

"And you! You know damn well that civilians should not be out on the field!" He yelled. The construct burst into specks off aura, and out came a woman with bright, ocean blue hair, and sapphire eyes like Jaune's own. His eyes widened in recognition, even though they still burned in anger.

"Jasmine? What the hell?!" The Arc yelled.

He used his aura arm suddenly, and blocked a barrage of bullets. He gave the girl a quick glance before growling. "I'll deal with this later. I have a job to do. AAARRGH! RAAAAGH!" He yelled as he summoned his aura construct again, and burst back into the fight. He swung his glaive from side to side, instantly cleaving any unfortunate Cleaner in half. Suddenly, he heard Crescent Rose firing. He turned back to look at his frieds.

He looked at Ruby, who still had her scythe in her hands. She was off to the side, throwing up with obvious tears, her sister Yang rubbing circles on her back. He looked to see who she had shot, and found the corpse of a sniper splattered against the concrete a few yards away. He sighed. He would talk with her later.

He summoned a ball of aura, the ball beginning to grow in size at the top of the blade, until it became about 6m. in diameter.

"With thy divine light, I smite all corruption from the world, for only then will justice be served to those who have sinned." Jaune chanted. Then, the ball hurled itself forward, and into the army of Cleaners. His friends watched in horror as the attack did it's damage. Blood flew everywhere, before being evaporated by the extreme heat. The screams of the dying simply faded away as the attack wiped them from existence. A blinding light soon came afterwards.

Once the spots left their eyes, everyone looked at the carnage. All that was left was a large crater, about 20m. in diameter, in the middle of the street. Jaune looked at his friends once more, and flinched as they looked upon the scene brokenly. The only one unfazed was Jasmine.

His cousin, and sister-in-arms as a Division agent.

He rubbed a hand over his face as she gave a cheerful wave.

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
In the refugee quarters...**

Ruby sat on a chair in the refugee quarters, her head in her hands as she mulled over what she had done. She could still see the surprise on his face when he fell. She didn't know his name, nor his story. What if he had family?

The thought of a mother and child crying brought Ruby to tears. Suddenly, she felt a hand lightly grasp her shoulder. She didn't bother turning. It wasn't until the person spoke did she identify who they were.

"Y'know, that's how I reacted to my first kill." Jaune's voice spoke. Ruby looked to her left, and found Jaune sitting there, looking up at the ceiling, a thousand-yard stare replacing his normally warm look.

He sighed, and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Two years ago, I was assigned an assassination mission, as a sort of rite of passage. In order to be activated, I had to complete the mission near-flawlessly." He paused, as he coughed into his hand.

"I did, of course. No problems whatsoever. But, the turmoil was what really got me. I was about your age, maybe a year older. But... I had killed a man, both a husband... and father. The man's name was Wesley Planstoil. I still remember his face when I had stuck a dagger in his heart. Regret, fear, frustration... I could see it all. I tried to convince myself that... that he had to die. That he was a bad man. But still... his face haunted me for weeks." Jaune's voice cracked.

Ruby looked up at him hesitantly. "How... How do you deal with it now?" she asked. He sighed and gave a small shrug.

"I've already accepted it Ruby. I know that... I'm a monster. But I kill for the right reasons. I kill to protect. That is my number one priority, the safety of others. Plus, somebody has to do the dirty work, and better me than any sort of civilian." Jaune smiled when Ruby leaned her head against his shoulder and gave him a hug.

"You're not a monster, Jaune. You're the adorkable guy I met in Beacon's courtyard." She said into Jaune's shoulder.

Jaune could hear the grin in her voice. He gave her one of his own. "And you are the Crater-Face that I met in Beacon's courtyard." Jaune replied. It earned him a punch to the shoulder and one of Remnant's cutest pouts. She smiled soon after though, and they shared a small laugh together.

Jaune ruffled her hair a little. His fac then morphed into an expression of seriousness. "Ruby," he said, sternly, and yet oddly comfortingly, "if you ever have trouble with... what happened today... come to me. I'll help you in any way I can."

Ruby's smile seemed to grow bigger as she nodded. She gave him another hug. "Your the best friend a girl can have." She mumbled into his shoulder.

"Oh, so do you want to talk about cute boys and magazines?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow. Jaune could feel Ruby's lips change into a grin in his shoulder.

"I've already got one of them in front of me, and it's not a magazine." She whispered. Jaune shivered, even as his cheeks heated up and turned bright red. When Ruby pulled back from the hug, she was blushing.

"I-I... Uh... IgottagonowseeyoulaterJaunebye!" Her words came tumbling out of her mouth so fast that Jaune could barely make sense of them before she sped away, using her semblance.

Jaune sat there, frozen in place. He struggled to form words, and his mind was jumbled up. "I... I... Wai-... Wha?"

Little did he know, that a certain blonde brawler had seen the whole interaction, a small smile planted firmly on her face.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry that this took so long to get out. Savior... at this point, I don't know what to do with it. I've tried to write a few chapters for it, but the plot that I have for it just... doesn't seem right. They've already defeated Gaea, so... I don't know what I was thinking making Gaea the antagonist. Anyway, I'm back from New Jersey, and I should have some time to write. Anyway, signing out!**

 **IU13**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! So, I put off writing for a little while, because I just needed to relax a little. Currently, I'm working on _another_ new fanfic that may or may not be good. Also, I'm in the process of writing the second chapter of my Gundam00xRWBY fanfic, along with the 3rd chapter of RLRGLL. Hopefully, the wait wasn't too agonizing, was it? If it was, I sincerely apologize.**

 **Anyway, here are my replies to your reviews:**

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15: I suppose so. I'm going to be adding a bit more of Jaune's family later on, so we'll probably be seeing more of her throughout the story.**

 **TopHatGuy: Yeah, that chapter was supposed to... introduce the cast to the darker ways of completing a mission. Or just the darker side of life in general.**

 **Amvmaster: HA! You're damn right he is!**

 **Kharn: Thank you for the reminder! Originally, that was supposed to happen when they went along with Jaune on the mission in chapter 5, but it slipped from my mind. And yeah, that'll probably be happening throughout the story.**

 **Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: Yeah, I did replace a chapter. it was there was a spelling error in one of the replies to your reviews, and I** **wanted it to be eligible for everyone to read. Spelling errors in a story I can accept... kind of. But I won't leave a spelling error when I'm talking to you guys. And sorry about how short the fight was, I'm not all that great at scenes like that, as you can see. Also, thank _you_ for pointing that out. And yes, this will be a Lancaster and Arkos fanfic, so... yeah. And I would _never_ cheat! **

**...**

 **...**

 **...**

 **...Probably.**

 **kloensy: Yeah, I didn't really like the idea of having two guns in Jaune's arsenal look very similar, minus the optic and color scheme. And yes, Red Spectre is an auto rifle, you get it as a random loot drop from the Crucible rewards. Also, New Monarchy is one of the factions in the tower. You'll find out more about factions as you progress through the game, but just know that each faction gives you good loot when you rank up. I wish you luck in getting back your cookie, but... in all honesty, do you really think you'll catch _Ruby Rose_? You'll need more than maxed out agility to catch her. **

**ThePizziaMan: Ah, a newcomer! Welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay!**

 **Raven: Thank you for that. Although, I am curious as to what would be tweaked. Please note that I am not in any shape or form angered or offended. After all, I appreciate constructive criticism.**

 **Honbox122: Here's the update! And thank you for the compliment, I greatly appreciate it.**

 **And that's all for reviews!**

 **And now, an announcement!**

 **So, for those of you who do not know, I put out an announcement regarding one of my role models in writing. His account is "Mr. Nobody or YARN", and he is thankfully back to writing. I would just like you guys to send him a message of kind words, I would be thankful if you did.**

 **Anyways, let's go!**

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:**

All was calm in the armory. The occasional talk of the JTF officers was the only sound within. Other than that, all was quiet. The mission had just finished the day before, and everyone's moods were light.

...

...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, a wall exploded, with a person flying through it. Said person immediately got back up and continued to run. This person had scraggly blond hair, and sapphire blue eyes. He wore a black hoodie with orange lining, and faded blue jeans with two belts crossed over his waist. Needless to say, this person was, in fact, the blond goofball, Jaune Arc.

Now, his current predicament was a rather tough one, as he was currently running from an angry fire breathing dragon.

Or as he liked to refer to her as, Yang Xiao Long.

"WHAT DID I DO?!" Jaune cried out, crying anime tears as he ran around the base with the blonde brawler following suit.

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID VOMIT-BOY!" She yelled, almost snatching Jaune's hoodie, but missing by mere centimeters. Jaune, using his aura to gain a burst of speed, rounded a corner, almost running into Roy Benitez, his commander as of late.

"Sorry sir, but I suggest you run!" Jaune shouted back to his commander. Roy raised an eyebrow before continuing on his way.

"Ah, youth." Roy said thoughtfully as he looked into his brand-new cup of coffee. Suddenly, as he rounded the corner...

... he was promptly run over by Yang in her pursuit of Jaune. Now, as he lay on the ground with foot-prints all over his chest, and spilled coffee staining his white dress-shirt, he grumbled.

"I hate youth."

Back to our beloved blondes, they were continuing their chase throughout the cafeteria. Teams RWB(Y) and (J)NPR watched the chase from afar, all of them wearing a deadpan expression upon their face, aside from Nora, who was cheering for Jaune to escape.

Ren merely sighed, the antics of his friends already familiar to the stoic boy. Plus, he had _Nora_ as a childhood friend. So this, _really wasn't_ new to him.

Nora cheered them on, despite it not being a competition, as Blake and Weiss face palmed, coincidentally at the exact same time.

"PLEASE, SPARE MERCY!" Jaune cried out as he knocked over a chair, nearly falling to the ground. Had it not been for his fear of being caught by Yang, he might've actually fallen to the floor, but his fear kept him from doing so, and he somehow managed to stop his fall and continue running. Until it was again stopped by him running into an arm, affectively clothes-lining him. He fell to the floor with a pained groan, panting due to running like a mad-man.

Jaune stared up in fear as Yang suddenly appeared in his field of view. "Mercy?" He asked. Yang grinned and shook her head 'no'.

Before he was pounded into the ground, Yang was immediately put into an arm-bar. By none other than Faye Lau.

Jaune rolled onto his stomach before pushing himself up. "Faye, that's enough." Jaune said. Faye sighed and let go, Yang rolling away with a sigh of relief. Jaune offered his hand to both of them, and when they both took it, pulled them up onto their feet.

"So, what did you need Faye?" Jaune asked as he brushed off an imaginary speck of dust on his black hoodie. Faye pointed at Yang and Jaune's friends.

"Command wants me to take them to Roy. You've guys been on the battlefield too much," Faye informed, and she held up a finger when Ruby looked like she was about to protest, "and while I believe that you had good intentions, we can't have other civilians believing that they can go out on the streets. Even though you are all huntsman/huntresses-in-training."

Ruby closed her mouth and pouted.

"Then what about Jaune? He's a huntsman-in-training as well!" Pyrrha argued, pointing at their resident blonde knight.

"Pyrrha, for the last time, I'm an agent. Just because I'm a student, it doesn't mean I have the same restrictions as you." Jaune stated calmly. He saw Pyrrha frown before giving a "hmph!" and crossing her arms.

Jaune had to chuckle at her childishness. "Anyways, you guys should get going. The faster you get there, the faster you'll get _out_ of there."

He walked away before he saw their reactions. He started going down to the Agents' Quarters, and enter his assigned room, number 139. Really, all the quarters were just narrow stalls with roofs set up in rows inside of the basement. Each "room" was big enough to only accommodate one person, as the cot took up the entire stall. Jaune unlocked the door with his scroll, and stepped inside as it opened outwards. He lay down in his bed, and the door close by itself. As he lay there, staring up at the dark ceiling of his "room", Jaune began too drift off to sleep. The concept of sleep sounded nice, seeing as he hadn't slept in about 4 days.

Which was, of course, not healthy. But he was used to it. He often did that when he was doing assignments early in Beacon.

When he was going under the radar.

Jaune sighed. If there was one thing he hated aside from his motion-sickness, it was lying. As an Arc, he despised it. And yet, he lied to his friends for so long. But he was glad that they stuck with him. Still, it hurt when he had to leave.

Before he could think anymore, sleep consumed him, and he fell to the clutches of unconsciousness.

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
In Roy Benitez's office...**

Ruby and Pyrrha sighed at the same time. They were currently in the office of Jaune's commander, Roy Benitez. They were being reprimanded for going out on the battlefield unauthorized. Yang had quite a few words to say about that.

"We were just trying to help!" The blonde bombshell yelled. There was no doubt that other people heard her, probably the whole building.

"Kid, I appreciate the fact that you're so willing to help, but you're still a civilian, despite your... status as a huntress-in-training." Roy calmly rebutted. It had been going on like this for the past 10 minutes, and frankly, it was starting to get on everyone's nerves.

" _WOULD YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP!?_ "

Everyone turned to the owner of the voice, even a few of the passing JTF officers and refugees.

Pyrrha stood at the desk, hands having been slammed down onto the table, and a look of utter irritation in her eyes. Now, it is a well-known fact that Pyrrha is both the top student at Sanctum and a four-time Mistralian champion. Knowing that, many people had a right to be afraid when she appeared to be even _slightly_ upset.

Ruby shrunk back a little at the Pyrrha's uncharacteristic outburst. It wasn't like her to lose her cool.

Roy, unfazed by her outburst, merely sent a simple glare her way. "Ms. Nikos, I'm surprised that _you_ , of all people, would lose your temper like that. Please keep that from happening again," He then turned to Yang, "now, blondie, I believe you yourself are in no position to argue at the moment. All of you are in a _war._ Where people such as yourself are not meant to be. Trust me, there are some horrors out there that kids your age are not meant to see. I'm sure Red over there has already had a taste." Roy said, pointing with his chin over to Ruby.

Yang stepped in front of Ruby and Roy's gaze. "Hey, lay off. She's... really uncomfortable about it still."

Roy gave a single nod, as if confirming something. "And that's what I mean. Do you honestly think you'll last long if you throw up every single time you kill someone out on the battlefield? Hell, you'll be shot full of holes before something comes out of your mouth." He looked around Yang and straight into Ruby's silver irises.

"Has Jaune talked to you yet?" He asked. Ruby blushed at the question, but nodded, earning a raised eyebrow from Roy.

"Not surprised. Even though he's a young one, he a man of wise words. It's a wonder why he decided to become a Hunter instead of a soldier."

Roy's statement earned the curiosity of Jaune's friends. "Soldier? W-Why?" Weiss asked.

Roy looked directly into the heiress' eyes. "Because he's a warming angel around allies, and a cold demon around enemies." He responded, an ominous tone present in his voice.

"Champ, have you noticed Jaune sometimes missing at night?" Roy asked the question to Pyrrha.

"Uh... Y-Yeah. Sometimes, why?"

Roy's voice took on a tone of amusement. "And let me guess. He always told you that he was either going out for a walk or training."

Pyrrha nodded warily. How did he know?

"Those nights, he was doing... work... for the Division. Despite not being "officially" activated, I'd say he's our most active of all of our agents. Hell, he's even done more work than his cousin, and _that's_ saying something." Roy explained.

Everyone took a minute to let that sink in. Nora was the first to speak.

"So even at Beacon, Jauney's been... killing people?" She asked quietly. Roy looked at her, giving her a look as if he had just seen a kicked puppy.

"Not all the time, but yes. He has performed his fair share of assassination missions," Roy said, "known and future leaders of drug cartels, suppression of the local Mafia, hell, he even took down a smuggling company out in Vacuo."

"Vacuo?" Blake asked, "isn't that a two day flight? That would mean he had to have been gone for a minimum of four days. And, if how Jaune explained how Division operations go, he would have been gone for five or six."

Pyrrha's eyes widened in realization. "Winter Break." She muttered, but everyone in the room heard her. Roy nodded.

"Around that time. He's a hard worker. Makes me want to tell the brass to back off, but we can't. Especially not now." Roy turned to them and gave a small smile, the first one since this whole meeting began.

"You guys should go back to Beacon and rest. After all, I'm sure you'll need it. That Vytal Festival is coming up, so you should get back to your studies as well. As for Jaune... he's already learned a lot of the stuff at Beacon. So he'll be fine." Roy explained, leading out of his office.

"Alright guys, go back to Beacon. You've all had a long day, and I suggest you get some rest. I'll call someone to fly you back to Beacon. In the meantime, while you wait, go ahead and get something to eat," Roy took a moment to breathe, taking a sip of his coffee as well, "The cafeteria's just down the hall after you leave this section. Just tell the guy at the table that I sent you and he'll let you pass."

The seven teens all nodded and proceeded to follow Roy's instructions, they had not eaten all day after all. This fact was further proven when their stomachs rumbled all at the same time.

The seven friends looked at each other, before bursting out into hysterical laughter. A few of the passing JTF officers smiled at the heart-warming scene.

It reminded them of what they fought to protect. And what they would lose if they failed.

* * *

 **Vacuo; Arc Family Residence:**

It was raining outside of the Arc Mansion. The weather reflecting the mood of it's occupants. Sitting in circle on the hardwood floor of the family room, the seven sisters of the Arc family brooded over what Jasmin had just reported to them.

"So... Jaune's killed again?" One of them asked, a tinge of sadness in her tone. She had red, shoulder length hair, with bright, sapphire blue eyes, much like her brother. She wore a red tank top, skinny jeans, and a ball-cap with red crosshairs on it. She was Rouge Arc, one of the triplet sister's of Jaune. The other triplet, Bleue Arc, nodded her head in response to her sister's question. She had the same features as Rouge, save for her hair, which stopped in the middle of her back, and was a light, indigo blue. She wore a blue tank top, black, baggy tactical pants, and a matching ball-cap that had blue crosshairs instead of red. They were both 17.

"Yeah... Why did we let him join the program again?" Bleue asked.

This time, it was the oldest of the sisters that spoke.

"Because it is his dream. And who are we to deny him of it? He wants to help others? That's fine." She said, but a bit unconvincingly.

She had long golden locks that fell to the middle of her back, and emerald green eyes that shone with authority. She was Verte Arc, 19 years old, the oldest of the Arc siblings, and the one in charge of their... "Jaune Reconnaissance."

"But Verte... you remember the stories about Grandpa, don't you?" Rouge asked.

The others nodded.

Verte shook her head. "No. Jaune won't become like that." She assured, more to herself really.

Another of the sisters spoke up. "But there's still that possibility Verte." She argued.

She was Noire, the third oldest sister at age 18. She had long, obsidian-black hair that was styled into a high pony tail. Two bangs hung loosely in the front, framing her face, accenting her golden irises nicely.

Verte seemed to pause at that.

"Tone it down, Noire. We all know that, so please." The youngest of them said. Rose Arc, was a petite girl of 15 years of age. She had short, dirty blonde hair that stopped past her shoulders, and bright pink irises. Despite her young age, she seemed to be the most well-mannered of the sisters.

Her older twin sister, Violete, nodded her head. She too had dirty blonde hair at the same length, but instead had dark purple irises. Personality-wise...

"So just do us all a favor ad shut the hell up."

...she was the complete opposite. Rude, crude, and full of attitude.

Noire sent a half-hearted glare towards her sister, having already gotten used to her personality. The last of the Arc sisters, Blanche, sighed at her sister's lack of manners. Blanche had long, black hair that stopped right above her rear, along with _very_ light azure eyes. Almost to the point where it could have been mistaken as white. "Violete, what have I said about your choice of words?" She asked in unison, glare aimed directly at said Arc.

Violete merely rolled her eyes. "If Jauney can do it, then why can't I?"

The monochromatic girl narrowed her eyes at her little sister.

"Jaune is an exception, given the environment he was trained in. But you, on the other hand, were raised better than that. So please, be more refined." She said, speaking as if the words coming out of her mouth were rehearsed

Violete rolled her eyes and flippantly waved her hand at her. "Yeah, yeah."

Just as Blanche was about to reprimand her again, Verte stopped her. "That aside, how is Jasmine doing?" She asked.

Noire shook her head. "The girl's the same as she's always been."

"An idiot?" Violete suggested.

Noire glared at her. "No, reckless. She brought Jaune's friends into a full-on battle."

Verte smiled. "Ah, yes. His team. What were their names again?"

Rose replied, "I think they were... teams RWBY and JNPR."

"I hope they're at least competent to handle Jaune." Rouge mumbled to her twin.

"Don't worry, one of his teammates is Pyrrha Nikos, the champion from Mistral." Bleue whispered back.

A look of understanding donned upon Rouge's face as she nodded.

"Where are Jaune and Jasmine now?" Rouge asked aloud.

Verte was the one to answer. "They are still at the National Post Office in the middle of Vale. That's where the Division set up their Base of Operations."

"And what of Jaune's friends?" Bleue asked.

Verde turned to her. "They were sent back to Beacon by Roy."

A small smirk made it's way to Violete's face. "Eh? And how is the old man doing?"

"Vi! That's no way to treat your elders!" Noire exclaimed.

"What? It's true isn't it?" Violete reasoned with a wide smile.

Noire paused. "Well... I mean... yeah... but-"

"See? Even you agree!" Violete exclaimed as she pointed at Noire.

"Guys, cut it out." Rouge sighed with her face in her hands. Bleue patted her twin's back.

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:**

Jane's slumber was rudely interrupted when someone banged against his door. Sighing, he sat up and crawled over to the door before opening it. A familiar well-endowed woman with ocean blue hair and sapphire eyes stood in front of him, a grin plastered on her face. Jaune took three seconds to recognize who stood before him in his groggy state.

He promptly slammed the door shut in her face.

"Wah! Jaune! That's mean!" Jasmine cried as she attempted to pull the door open. Jaune grabbed his pillow and used it to cover his ears.

"Go away Jasmine." He muttered as he desperately tried to grasp sleep once more.

"But Jaune~. Aren't you happy to see your big older cousin?" She asked as she stopped pulling on the door for a few seconds.

There was a long pause before Jaune answered.

"No."

"Jaune!" She Jasmine complained again, before she was smacked in the face by the door as it opened. Falling backwards, she landed on her butt and slammed her head against another one of the stalls, knocking her unconscious. Seeing this, Jaune sighed as he got out of his stall and picked her up. He carried her in a princess carry as he walked to the cafeteria to get something to eat. He was pretty hungry after all. As he walked, he noticed the few stares that were aimed his way, but he didn't mind. As he was passing the guy in front of the door to the cafeteria, he made sure to glare at him, knowing the guy's personality.

"Don't even think about it Todd." Jaune hissed as he saw Todd develop a large grin. The man only held up his hands in surrender before going back to work, sorting out all of the special orders sent to this base.

As Jaune entered, he noticed that the cafeteria wasn't as crowded as it was earlier today. He set Jasmine down at one of the tables, altering her posture so that she was slumped over the table with her head in her arms, and went to grab some food for the both of them. He managed to get some refried beans, mash potatoes, some peas, and some sort of meat that looked like ground beef. Jaune shuttered.

"Maybe I've gotten too familiar with Beacon food." He murmured as he brought the two trays back to the table he set Jasmine down at. He found her still knocked out at the table, so he set down the two trays onto the table, and sat on the opposite side of her. As soon as the son that held the meat hit his tongue, he regretted it.

' _So... bland!_ ' He thought as he struggled to keep the food in his mouth. With a great deal of effort, he swallowed the whole thing and gave a shudder as the taste lingered. God, he's been inactive for so long.

Glancing at his cousin, he rolled his eyes and reached over the table. With one hand, he lifted her face off of the table, and with the other, he proceeded to slap her across the face. She jolted awake, her eyes wide in alert. She noticed that Jaune was in front of her, eating his food and shuddering after each bite. She smirked and took a bite herself, before her smirk faded as she gagged on the blandness that was the meat. She ran to the trash can and spit the vile sustenance in the trash.

After cleaning her mouth out of meat via hands, she turned around and found Jaune laughing at her. She approached him and sat down at the table with a huff.

"It's not funny, stop it." She grumbled, though Jaune only laughed harder, and harder still as he leaned away from a slap to the face. He stuck his tongue out at her and continued to laugh, Jasmine fuming the entire time.

Suddenly, Jaune's attention was captured by a familiar group of people that just walked into the cafeteria. He waved at them. "Hey guys!" He called.

Nora turned to him, before pointing at him and looking back at her friends. They all turned to him and began walking to his table.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby greeted as she sped into the seat next to him.

"Hey Ruby, how'd it go with Roy?" Jaune asked as he continued to force down his food.

Noticing this, Ruby raised an eyebrow. "It went... okay... I guess... Are you okay?"

Jaune gave a short nod and waved the question off. "Yeah. Just... if you get food, I do not recommend getting the ground beef. Hell, I don't even think this _is_ ground beef." Jaune murmured, looking at the small pile of the mentioned food, poking it with his spoon as well. Yang took his spoon away from him.

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad. Stop being a little baby." Yang said, taking a scoop of the stuff with the spoon she just stole from him. She put the spoon in her mouth.

Immediate regret.

Yang did not hesitate to spit the vile substance out of her mouth and onto Jaune's face, the food then slowly sliding down and back onto his plate. Yang at least had the decency to blush in embarrassment, while Jaune gave her a deadpan stare.

"Really?"

Yang chuckled nervously. She scratched the back of her head. "S-Sorry Jaune."

Jaune suddenly smirked. "Soooo... Do I call you Vomit Girl now?" Jaune teased.

Yang's eyes blinked crimson. Jaune immediately pulled back, putting his hands up in a surrendering manner.

"Jeez, calm down," slowly, Jaune stood up, "now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go."

Yang blinked in confusion. "Where?"

Jaune smiled and took off in a sprint. "You'll never know, Vomit Girl!" He yelled. Yang growled and tore after him for the second time today, eyes glowing a fiery red.

Her target laughed as he sidestepped away from her attempt to strangle him, grinned as he ducked under a wild punch, and chuckled as he leaned away from a high-kick. Yang yelled in frustration and threw a straight punch, aimed at his face. However, to her surprise and shock, Jaune sidestepped, grabbed her arm and held it underneath his arms. From there, he head-butted her before sweeping her off of her feet with a low kick. She landed unceremoniously on her back, groaning in pain as she did. Jaune chuckled a little.

"I'm not as easy a target as I was in Beacon, Vomit Girl." Jaune teased. Yang's polite reply was the raising of a certain finger. Jaune 'tsk'ed. He lightly swatted away the offending hand and proceeded to reprimand her in a mock fatherly tone.

"Now that's not nice, young lady. Go to your room and think about what you've done!" Jaune ordered sarcastically, a wide smile splayed across his features.

"F**k you Vomit Boy." Yang groaned as she covered her eyes with her left arm.

Suddenly, Ruby appeared seemingly out of nowhere, with a large jar that was for some reason filled halfway with Lien.

"Yang! Swear word! One for the jar!" Ruby exclaimed as she pointed at her sister. Yang begrudgingly took out some money and tossed it into the jar, before proceeding to return to the floor on her back.

Jaune shook his head. "Now, now Yang, don't be such a bad sport. Here," Jaune offered his hand to her, "c'mon, up an' at 'em." Yang looked up at him before a small smile formed upon her face as well. She took his hand and pulled herself up. However, as soon as she was up, she socked Jaune right across the jar, causing to do a full spin before falling to the ground with a dazed expression.

"I'll admit... I... let my guard... down..." Jaune said from the floor, his dizziness carrying into his voice. All in all, it was a rather peaceful day for teams JNPR and RWBY.

* * *

 **Unknown Location:  
At the same time...**

A man within a laboratory smiled as he stared through his microscope, whatever was underneath it bringing him a sense of pure joy.

"Finally, after all these years, I shall control this world! Yes... my birthright... will finally be mine." The man said in a deep, harsh voice. A lone lamp revealed the man's features, a head of wild, grey hair, and narrowed, yellow eyes. He lifted his head away from the microscope. He took the observation tray out of it and placed the sample back into it's container.

On the container, there was a label.

"The Dollar Flu." The man read aloud, a psychotic smile making it's way to his features. The man laughed once, before it turned into full-blown maniacal laughter.

Beneath him a series of labs, set up in grids, were filled with Cleaners and other scientists, all working on the same virus that was in the container, that the man held.

After he finished laughing, he lifted the container up, as if it were the Holy Grail. "I shall finally rid this world of these wretched freaks, and I shall build a new world upon their corpses! And not even _Ozpin will stop me!_ " The man hissed.

"For I, am Chovix Levora! AND THE WORLD! WILL! BE! MINE!" The man, now identified as Chovix, declared. He laughed once more, the haunting sound filling the laboratory.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey y'all! I am not dead! I finally managed to finish this chapter. Nothing much, I know. But I am planning for the action to come within the next few chapters. And, as I said above, I am also working on a few of my other fanfics, so that is why it took me this long to write this particular chapter. I will try to update sooner, but no promises. Since school has started for me, my writing time has, essentially, been cut in half. And with homework and whatnot... well... I can only hope you understand my plight. Also, don't be so harsh on other writers for not updating very often. I've seen some very... disappointing reviews on some otherwise fantastic stories, and to be honest, it saddens me quite a bit. Anyway, I, once again, apologize for the wait. But, until then...**

 **IU13, out!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! I got back to writing this story, because I just got some encouragement. School is back in session, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find time to write. I'll try to write as much as possible, but I can't make any promises. Anyway, I'll let you read after I reply to your reviews, so here we go!**

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15: Yes insane psychotic smart villain, because why not! I just decided to try my hand on this type of character, since I've never tried one yet. Also, he was being chased for being all "cutesy" with Ruby.**

 **Amvmaster: Well... I'm sorry to hear that. I hope I do better this time.**

 **blaiseingfire: Thank you! I appreciate your judgement.**

 **kloensy1: Thanks! Also, you've really thought that plan out! Well, I shall fund this project with kind regards! I hope ya' get your cookie back.**

 **Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: I'm sorry about the wait. I got distracted by school and... admittedly video games. But mostly school!**

 **...Mostly.**

 **I really appreciate your support, and I thank you for your revisions of my stories. Thank you. Also, yeah. You'd be right. I wasn't thinking about it when I named the Flu.**

 **Kylesilos: Sure! I'd be glad to!**

 **TopHatGuy: Yep! Because why not? Dare I say why not?! *Ahem* Also...**

 **...That is a SOLID maybe.**

 **Guest: KRUSTY KRAAAAAA~AAAAAB PI~IZZA!**

 **...Sorry, I didn't understand what you meant, so I just replied with what I thought was appropriate.**

 **...**

 **...I know. If that was appropriate, then maybe I have a few screws loose somewhere.**

 **MehnMahselv: Well... I plan on making a scene sort of similar to that. That's all I can offer without giving away any plot.**

 **Anyway! Regarding Kylesilos from above, I will post a poll about whether or not you would like to see an omake or cameo. And if the results are good, then I will announce it on THIS fic ONLY.**

 **Anywho, this IU13, and have a nice time.**

* * *

 **Vale City:  
With Jaune...**

Jaune sprinted through the underground road-tunnel, grunting as bullets whizzed past his head, mere millimeters away from clipping his ear off. Without turning around, Jaune pointed his Zarinaea-D backwards, and fired. The sudden hail of bullets stopped the gunfire for a moment before it picked up again. Jaune slid into cover behind a broken down ambulance. He heard the bullets skid off of the metal surface of the truck as he reloaded. A fresh mag within, Jaune peeked around the corner and took out a Cleaner with a headshot.

Jaune chuckled at the irony, despite the situation. The Cleaners thought that they were burning away the Darkness. Tch. Typical.

He moved further into the tunnel, ducking from cover to cover to avoid getting hit. There was an occasional graze, but nothing too serious. Jaune internally checked his aura levels.

' _F**k. Not enough aura for a construct. There's not enough room anyways._ ' Jaune thought in his head as a scowled formed on his face. Jaune slid behind another car and returned fire, killing two more Cleaners, before moving on. He tripped on a muffler, sending his body and gun sprawling into the ground, grinding his front harshly against the asphalt.

Jaune groaned as he rubbed his chin, which had a new rash thanks to the road. He did not use his aura to heal it however. "Gotta conserve aura." Jaune muttered to himself. He jumped as a bullet skidded right past his head, and he did not hesitate to pick up his gun, get back up, and run. As he was running, weaving from cover to cover once more, he reached over to his right shoulder, where his radio was.

"This is Agent White Knight! I need... gah! I need an assist!" Jaune yelled into his radio as a bullet penetrated his shoulder. He reached backwards towards his backpack and pulled out a roll of medical gauze. He quickly slung his rifle over his uninjured shoulder and wrapped his injured shoulder with the gauze. As soon as he was satisfied, Jaune unslung his rifle and continued to return fire.

"What kind of sh** did I get myself into?" Jaune muttered to himself bitterly as he continued to kill.

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
3 hours earlier...**

Jaune sighed as he jumped back into his cot, ready to take another nap. His face still hurt from the sucker punch that Liner had given him last night, as evident by the bruise that he was currently icing. He winced as a sharp pain shot across his cheek. Tired of dealing with the pain, Jaune let his aura circulate across the bruise.

' _Should heal in the next hour or so._ ' Jaune thought to himself. He started to close his eyes. He fought sleep for a few minutes, but ultimately let his eyes closed. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong.

Right?

Wrong.

Jaune groaned to himself as he heard his scroll ring. He took out the blasted object and glared at it. He had his scroll replaced after he ditched his old one when he was trying to lose his team. Thankfully, the Division gave it to him for free, but Faye reprimanded him for relying on the agency too much. Which he found to be very hypocritical, given that she breaks her scroll every week and gets a new one the next.

He looked at the screen and saw a picture of team RWBY. He rolled his eyes as he saw the silly picture of the whole team tossing food at each other. He answered his scroll, and immediately recoiled at the loud shriek that came from the speakers.

The sound of crashing plates, breaking wood, and... was that a cat?

"Uh... hello?" Jaune asked. The sounds continued still, though he could vaguely hear Yang and Weiss shouting random gibberish, Blake hissing, and Ruby squealing.

 **"Wait, Blake! You... Gah! Stop! Not the beds! You're gonna... You're gonna make a mess! Stop Blake!"** Jaune heard Ruby yell. He chuckled.

"RUBY!" Jaune yelled into his scroll. He received a loud bang from the stall next to him, its occupant moaning a soft, 'shut up.'

"Sorry." He apologised to the person.

 **"Jaune? Where are you?"** Ruby asked.

Jaune chuckled softly again. "I'm talking from your scroll." Jaune replied.

Ruby's face suddenly appeared on the screen, sweaty and red as all hell.

 **"Jaune? Did you call me? Hey! Watch it, Blake! Get down from there-... gah!"** Ruby yelled, getting tackled out of nowhere by a black blur. The scroll fell onto the ground, apparently propping itself on something as it now showed the destroyed dorm room of team RWBY. Blake was running around the room, chasing Yang who was doing the same, though she was clutching something in her arms. Their beds (deathtraps?) were somehow still standing, though they looked like they were about to collapse at any moment. The drapes of their room were discarded on the ground, seemingly uncared for judging by the multitude of footprints on it. It was then that Jaune squinted at what Yang was holding to her stomach.

...was that a book?

 **"Yang! Give it back to me!"** Blake demanded, flipping off of her bed and lunging at Yang, missing and hitting the bookshelf, sending even more stuff to the floor. Weiss was screeching in the background, trying to keep the collateral damage to a minimum while also picking up stuff on the floor and returning them to their place.

Jaune chuckled. He always did enjoy his friend's antics, ever so lively. He remembered when he used to sit at the lunch table at Beacon, and just watch. Observe. And he would always be happy. This was what he wanted. He wanted this peace. This feeling of happiness. His face scowled in fierce determination in his stall.

He would protect them. He would protect this peace. This he vowed.

Suddenly, his attention was brought back to his scroll when the video started to move, showing Ruby once more. This time, she was out in the hallway, panting slightly, her hair all tussled and her cloak crumpled. She sighed.

 **"Sorry about that Jaune. As you can see, it's pretty..."** Ruby paused, as if searching for the right word to use.

"Hectic?" Jaune offered.

Ruby smiled. **"Yeah. Hectic. Anyway, what's up?"**

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Ruby, you're the one that called me. I was just about to go to sleep."

 **"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"** Ruby apologized, **"I didn't mean to! I think I might've butt-dialed you!"**

Jaune gave a soft chuckle. 'It's alright Ruby. So, how've ya' been? Anything good happening?"

Ruby shook her head, a pout adorning her face. **"Nothing! And that's not fun! Ms. Goodwitch dumped even more lessons on us earlier today!"** Ruby whined, **"You're so lucky you're not here right now."**

Jaune truly laughed at that. "Trust me Ruby, with what I do, you're clearly in the better place right now." He replied, a soft smile on his face.

Ruby frowned a little at that. Rolling his eyes, Jaune tried to cheer her up. "Hey, c'mon Rubes. Lighten up, it was just a joke." He said.

 **"Not a real funny one Jaune. How are you? Pyrrha's practically tearing her hair out at this point."** This prompted Jaune to feel a little guilty. It was kind of his fault that he hadn't contacted his friends for a little over two weeks, since they returned to Beacon.

"Sorry 'bout that. I've just been so caught up with work and it's just been so... stressful, I suppose." And that was the truth. He had practically been loaded with missions at this point. Hell, most of the past two weeks were loaded with small operations. Of course, he had his city patrols as well, but those weren't much better. In all honesty, Jaune was surprised he hadn't fallen into a coma yet. Of course, that was probably due to his standard anti-insomnia training, but even still, Jaune felt like absolute crap.

Suddenly, an idea came to Jaune. "Hey Ruby, I have the next two days off, so... I was wondering whether or not you guys would like to do something. You know, travel through the Green Zones." Jaune suggested.

The Green Zones, places which were heavily guarded by Huntsman, Huntresses, and the JTF.

Jaune noticed that Ruby had physically perked up at that, eyes sparkling like they did when she saw a brand-new weapon.

Which reminded him...

"Also, Ruby. I got something I want to show later on today." He said, noticing the curious expression on the red reaper's face.

 **"Sure! I think everyone would like that! But... What did you want to show me?"** She asked.

Jaune smirked. "Take a guess."

 **"A book for the final exams?"**

"Nope."

 **"I give up."** She said, throwing her hands up in the air, the screen blurring as she did so.

"Already? After just the first guess? Damn, now you'll never be the Hero of Vale." Jaune teased.

Ruby deadpanned at the blonde agent. **"Ha ha. You're humor amuses me Jaune. It really does."** She sarcastically replied, utilizing the dullest tone possible.

"Well... I'll give you a hint. What's your most favorite thing aside from Yang and cookies?" Jaune asked, watching as Ruby's face lit up.

 **"Weapons! But why is that the... hint..."** Ruby stopped when she started to piece the puzzle together. Then, all at once, her excitement level exploded.

 **"YOU'RE GETTING A NEW WEAPON?!"** She practically screeched, earning another bang from the person next to Jaune.

"Ruby! Ya' gotta be quiet," He whispered, "There are people sleeping here."

 **"Oh! Sorry, Jaune. So what weapon is it? Does it mecha-shift? What does it mecha-shift into? Does it have a melee weapon form?"** Jaune reeled back from the sudden barrage of questions.

"Woah, woah, Ruby. Slow down. First off, it's a rifle. Second, yes, it does mecha-shift. Third, it doesn't mecha-shift into a melee weapon, but into another gun. And the last... well, I already answered that, didn't I?"

Ruby nodded. **"So why did you want to show it to me? Did you want me to look over the blueprints or somethin'?"**

Jaune shook his head. "No, not that. It's already been built, so now I just have to pick it up. I just wanted to show you is all. I know how much you love weapons."

Ruby grinned. **"You're the best! Wait! Let me go and tell Pyrrha!"**

Suddenly, Jaune felt a bout of nausea as the screen blurred, indicating that Ruby had used her semblance to speed over to the door.

 **"Pyrrha!"** Ruby called, banging on the door, **"Pyrrha! Jaune's on the phone, he wants to talk with-"**

(WHAM!)

Ruby dropped the scroll as the sound of a door being slammed startled both her and Jaune.

"Ruby?" He asked.

"Ruby, you alright?! What the f**k happened?!"

 **"Owww... Yeah, I'm fine. Pyrrha just opened the door to fast and it startled me. Anyways, here she is!"** The scroll then turned into the image of Pyrrha as she smiled excitedly.

"Hey Pyr, what's up?"

Suddenly, that smile turned into a deep frown. **"Jaune Miles Arc... you haven't spoken to us for over two weeks..."** she began, her hair shadowing her eyes, **"And all you have to say... is 'what's up?' You..."**

"Woah, woah, Pyrrha. I'm really sorry about that! I got so caught up in my work that I barely had enough time to talk to you guys." Jaune explained, making wild hand motions so as to further prove his innocence.

Pyrrha sighed deeply. **"You made us really worried Jaune. Nora's practically been trying to break her way out of Beacon."** She said exasperatedly.

Jaune scratched the back of his head awkwardly with a sheepish smile. "Sorry... But hey, I managed to secure some free time for the next two days! So... I was wondering if you guys would like to go take a walk through the Green Zones!" Jaune said, excitement leaking into his voice.

Apparently, that excitement leaked onto Pyrrha, as her eyes lit up as well. **"That'd be wonderful! Oh, Nora's gonna love this!"**

Suddenly, Jaune jumped as someone banged against his stall door. "Hey, Arc. We gotta sh** ton of crap to do on patrol today. Let's go." A gruff voice said from behind the door.

Jaune sprang up from his bed and climbed out. "I'm coming Griff," he called, before turning to his scroll, "Hey Pyrrha. Sorry, I gotta go. My mission handler's got somethin' for me."

Jaune frowned as Pyrrha's gaze turned down. "Hey... c'mon Pyr, cheer up. I'll be back by tonight and we'll have all day together tomorrow!" He exclaimed in an attempt to cheer up his partner.

Pyrrha gave a small smile and nodded. **"Okay. But I want you to come back with absolutely nothing wrong, you hear?"** She commanded, her gaze stern and hard.

Jaune gave an impish smile. "No promises."

 **"Jaune, I'm serious."**

He rolled his eyes in response. "Relax, Pyr. I'll be fine. It's just patrol."

* * *

 **Vale City; Underground Road-Tunnel:  
Back to the present...**

Jaune grunted. "I hate myself for ever taking goddamn this patrol." He muttered to himself.

He grabbed a grenade from his backpack and chucked it over his cover. "F**K YOU!" He yelled, watching as the grenade exploded, sending blood and debris into the air. There was a loud scream as an arm popped up into the air.

Jaune ducked back down when a bullet skidded past his shoulder.

He sucked air between his teeth, before pointing his gun back at a Cleaner. ' _There goes another one._ ' Jaune thought.

Despite the situation, Jaune couldn't help but think to himself as he ducked back down into cover. ' _Two years ago, I probably would have been appalled to hear someone say that so casually._ '

He shrugged to himself, before bolting to the the back of the tunnel, which was sealed off by a tall pile of rubble and debris. "Sh**. What the hell is this?" Jaune muttered to himself, before rolling to the left as a grenade hit the ground beside him. He barely, managed to get out of the blast radius, his aura flaring on contact with the shrapnel, but he was otherwise unhurt. He internally checked his aura again.

"Damn. Even lower. I hope that support gets here on time."

Jaune checked his vest, looking over his ammo reserves, before cursing. "I'm out." He muttered angrily. He took out the butterfly energy sword, before flicking it open and turning on the blade, the scalding hot blue energy hissing at the contact with the cool, damp air. There was a moment of tense silence.

Just as Jaune was about to jump out of cover, the sound of gunfire erupted from the confines of the tunnel. Ducking down, Jaune waited until the gunfire and screams of pain ended. Jaune gripped the handle of his energy blade tightly, ready to swing at the next Cleaner that popped their mask in his face.

But instead, a wave of relief flooded over Jaune as a voice called out to him. "Agent White Knight? What's your status?"

Jaune carefully poked his head, making sure that the person who called out to him was really a Division Agent. "Sustained minor injuries, aura is low, but otherwise I think I'm still alive."

Jaune heard the agent scoff. "If it were anybody other than me, Jaune, I think they would think you were childish. I thought you hated that." The agent said. Jaune recognized her voice, before he fully revealed himself.

"Well look who's here. Is that the voice of Faith Connors I hear?" Jaune asked, walking over to her with a wide grin.

Faith gave a chuckle. "The one and only."

Jaune rose an eyebrow. "No sh**. What happened with the Runners?" He asked.

Faith pulled off her ski-mask and hat, revealing shoulder-length, raven black hair, matching eyes with a wing tattoo underneath her right eye, and a light complexion. Her eyes were downcast, and Jaune had a sinking feeling as to what happened.

"The blues?"

Faith nodded. Immediately, Jaune went to her and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry, Faith. I didn't know."

She shook her head and lightly returned the hug, before pushing him away. "It's fine Jaune, that was last year. For now, let's get you out of here, and we'll catch up at the Base, alright?"

Jaune nodded, closing his blade and stowing it away back in it's pouch on his vest. He looked back up to see Faith with a gun in her hand, handle facing him.

"Here, you might need this." She said as Jaune took the gun. It was an old Atlesian service pistol, one that Jaune had seen Faith use many times.

"Isn't this... Merc's?"

Faith nodded. "Don't lose it."

Jaune scoffed. "I wouldn't lose it for my life."

She smiled, and led Jaune back to the entrance of the tunnel, where a small helicopter sat, its blades already spinning. The two hopped onto the small vehicle, signalled the pilot that they were ready for departure, and headed back to base.

As they rode, Faith explained to Jaune what had happened with the Runners.

"I came back from a mission one day, and found out that Merc's home, that AC cooling vent, had been raided by the f**king blues. Now, the Runners have been disbanded."

"What about Kate?" Jaune asked.

"Oh, she's fine, now. She's a bit shaken up about being framed, but you know how she is. She recovered a week later."

"No charges?"

Faith grimaced. "No, she's still technically a criminal in Glass, but the Division's working on it right now. I have no doubt that she'll be proven innocent in no time."

Jaune nodded. Suddenly, seeing the Division Base of Operations up ahead, Jaune also saw that they were close to the roofs of a few skyscrapers. He grinned as he turned to Faith.

"Hey Faith?"

"Hm?"

"When was the last time you went on a run?" He asked.

Faith stopped to think for a moment. "Last year. Why?"

Jaune's grinned grew wider. "Hey Pilot! We're leaving our gear here, we'll pick them up at the heli-pad!" He called to the pilot, earning a thumbs up as a response.

"Jaune? What are you doing?" Faith asked in curiosity.

"C'mon Faith, I thought you loved to run?" Jaune said as he stripped himself his gear, leaving him in his grey sports jacket and black combat pants.

Faith rose an eyebrow. "But I don't have my running shoes."

Jaune scoffed. "As if that ever stopped you. I remember Merc made you run a course in goddamn snowshoes. Granted that, yes, it was really easy, you still you could've gotten severely hurt."

Faith relented. "Fair point." She sighed as she also took off her gear, leaving her in a black hooded sweatshirt and white sweatpants.

They looked at each other, grinned, and jumped out of the helicopter, landing on a nearby rooftop.

The race to the Base had begun.

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
Thirty minutes later...**

Jaune and Faith entered the building, panting and sweating. A few people around them cast their curious gazes at the two, but they ignored them. Jaune was the first to speak up.

"I..." He began, taking deep breaths, "I beat you... I totally... beat you."

Faith slugged him in the arm, toppling him over due to his exhaustion. "Shut... Shut up..."

From his position on the floor, Jaune laughed. He missed this feeling. He looked over at Faith with amusement. Despite being 3 years older than him at 20, she was like another older sister to him. Especially since their constant interaction at Basic Training. Alongside Faye, Faith was one of the only people he interacted with on a daily basis during his training.

"You're... gettin' rusty... Faithy." He gasped between breaths, his chest heaving as he tried to recover some air.

Faith rolled her eyes, before offering her hand to him. They both grunted as she pulled him up. "Oum... I think... I bruised my side... when I landed... on the heli-pad." He said, holding his right side.

"Nothing your aura can't heal." Faith said, years of Runner training allowing her to catch her breath more quickly.

Jaune tutted, before carefully guiding himself over to a nearby crate. He groaned as he sat himself down. "Sh**... I think it's actually cracked." He said, gently touching where his rib-cage was. He nodded to himself.

"Yeah... that's a floater alright."

Faith sat down next to him. "You forgot how to land Vomit-Boy? Guess the height got to you didn't it?" She teased.

Jaune growled. "Dammit Faith, I have motion-sickness, not a fear of heights, and you know it." He muttered, limping in the direction of the infirmary. ' _Sucks aura can't fix floating ribs._ ' Jaune thought to himself. One thing that Jaune learned during training, was that in order to heal a certain body part, said body part had to still be both _intact_ and _attached_ to your body. Hence, why aura can't heal an amputated limb or, in Jaune's case, a floating rib.

Faith looped his right arm over her shoulders, allowing him to lean on her. "C'mon, Jaune, let's get you patched up." She said.

As they walked to the infirmary, the two talked about what had gone on these past few years. Faith told Jaune about her life after training. She got a job as a school gym teacher, and then became an official physical trainer at a well-known gym in Vacuo. Meanwhile, Jaune had told her about his time in Beacon, how it both disappointed, and didn't disappoint him.

"It's like they're coddling us! We're not little children anymore, we're about to become adults, we've chosen this path. Why try to sugar-coat all the sh** we'll deal with?" Jaune complained.

Faith sighed. "Jaune, think about it. Technically, they _are_ still teenagers. They are trying to not scare their students, and ease them into the Huntsman role, instead of just shoving it into their hands." She explained.

"But they should! It shows who is really fit for the role, and who is not." Jaune stated coldly.

His Runner companion rolled her eyes. "Jaune, you have to think about it from the professor's perspective. While yes, that may be the case, the professors actually _know_ what they're going to put their students through."

Jaune humphed. "I still stand by my opinion."

"Jaune..."

Said knight shook his head. "Look, Faith. I understand this whole, 'protect them from darkness' concept, but to me? That just sounds like they don't think we're prepared. And in this line of work..." Jaune paused, a cold gaze staring into Faith's eyes.

"...Being unprepared gets you killed."

* * *

 **Faith's stall...**

Faith groaned as she pulled off her jacket, leaving her in a tight, black A-shirt. She flopped down onto the bed as her jacket fell onto the bed beside her, her arm draped across her eyes. She was tired, and confused.

Jaune had changed so much, since they last talked with each other. He wasn't as... goofy, as she remembered. Maybe it was the amount of missions he's gone on? She's seen his record, and she was no less than shocked at how many missions he's completed. During the short period of time between his activation and the present, he completed 34 missions...

Oum... he must be tired. Worried about her friend, Faith decided to check on him. She pushed herself off of her cot, before opening the door and walking out. Before she went to the infirmary, Faith went to the cafeteria to grab some food. Not that ground beef crap, because that sh** was nasty. She stepped through the doors of the cafeteria, and was immediately greeted by the chorus of wild chatter and noises that made up the room. She looked at the lunch line and found that they were serving...

...was that steak?

Faith immediately grabbed two trays, one for herself and one for Jaune, and got in line. As she waited, tapping her foot impatiently, she took the time to look around the room. She saw Faye sitting in the corner, looking at her scroll. She caught Faith's gaze and gave a single-handed wave. Faith stacked the two trays and waved back. Faith felt her mouth slightly water as she got to the front of the line. Never again will she ever take rib-eye steak for granted. As she was served two steaks, she had the fleeting thought of just eating both of them. She shook her head.

She wasn't that mean.

She walked past Faye as she made to leave the cafeteria, only to find that Faye was now walking beside her. "Hey Faith, how'd the retrieval go?"

Faith shrugged as best she could with two trays in her hand. "Without a hitch, though Jaune and I went on a run along the roof-tops, and he broke a rib when he landed."

Faye grinned. "Sounds like something the kid would do, right?"

Faith laughed. It really did. He was always the goofball of their little group back in boot camp, with his lopsided grin and clumsy nature, he never failed to amuse the two of them, intentionally or not. Which is why Faith was worried. She looked over to her companion, who was still looking at her scroll. She peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at.

Faye was watching some kind of fight. It was a one versus seven, which seemed a little unfair. However, as the fight progressed, Faith quickly learned that the lone fighter was a force to be reckoned with. He completely demolished the other team in ten minutes! Curiosity took over, and she had to ask.

"Who is that? The lone guy?" She inquired, causing Faye to look over her shoulder and up at her.

She was just a tad bit shorter than Faith, not that she would ever say it aloud.

"It's Jaune. Apparently, he got into a little bit of a scuffle with his friends after they took him back to Beacon."

Faith raised an eyebrow.

Faye nodded. "Yeah, he decided that fighting all of them at once would show them that he was ready for whatever came his way." She looked back down at the scroll, watching Jaune flip a short, black and red themed girl across his back and onto the ground. "I guess he showed them."

Faith scoffed. "Yeah, no kidding."

The two walked in a comfortable silence, with Faith looking straight ahead and Faye still looking at her scroll, watching Oum knows what. There was silence for a few more moments. That is, until they rounded a corner, where they were met with the sight of a ocean-haired woman, cursing at a door as she tried to pick the lock. "Damn locks, always standing in my way..." She muttered.

Faith and Faye exchanged glances, before they both walked over to the pick-locking woman. They now stood behind her, though it seemed the woman did not notice. Faye faked a cough, earning a jump and high-pitched shriek from the woman in front of them.

"Oh, dear Oum, don't scare me like that!" She cried out, holding a hand over her heart. Faith raised an eyebrow.

"What exactly were you doing?" She asked. She looked up to the door the woman had been picking, and found that it was the door to the infirmary.

Beside her, Faye sighed. "Jasmine, why are you picking the infirmary door lock?"

Jasmin sighed in frustration. "There are these two guys standing outside the main door, and they won't let anyone in. Apparently, there's something wrong with Jaune's aura, and it's considered very dangerous. I'm trying to see what's happening to him."

"You know Jaune?" Faith asked, curiosity piqued.

Jasmine nodded. "Yeah, he's my cousin. Stubborn and strict, that one."

Faith sighed. "I assume you know that's not how he used to be?"

Jasmine scoffed. "You bet your a** I do! Hell, he used to be the goofball of the family. Always so clumsy with his stuff. Ah... good times."

"Maybe this problem with his aura is what's causing him to act this way?" Faith hypothesized.

The blue-haired Arc shrugged. "Hell if I know. Though that does seem rather plausible."

Silence again took over as Jasmine continued to pick the lock, cursing every time she was unsuccessful.

Faith patted Jasmine's back. "Maybe we should just wait until they release him from the infirmary." She said.

Jasmine tore her hand off of her shoulder. "No! I need to know how he's doing!"

"Hey!" A voice yelled from next to them. They looked to the left, and saw that there was a man dressed in combat gear, a full-armored vest with ammo pouches, standard-issue HUD glasses, and a black beanie.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded as he came over.

Jasmine immediately stood up, hiding the lock-picks behind her back. "Nothing sir, just seeing if one of the patients needed food, is all." She explained, gesturing to the trays in Faith's hands.

"Well, the infirmary is closed for today, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The man said, before gesturing with his hand behind them. Faye, who had been previously silent, now spoke up.

"I believe I can change your mind, Cole." She said, walking in front of him.

"Faye? What are you...? *sigh* Fine. I'll let the others know you want in." He relented. "Are they with you?" He pointed at Faith and Jasmine.

"Yeah, they are. What's Jaune's condition?" Faye asked as they walked to the main entrance.

One of the guards, a deer faunus with reddish skin and tall antlers sticking out of his helmet, recognized Jasmine and let out an irritated grunt. "I though' I told ya' tha' ya' can't enter the infirmary." Jasmine flinched at his accented tone. He did not sound happy.

Faye stepped in front of her. "Agent Spears, she's with me."

Spears rolled his eyes. "Fine." He looked into the camera and made a hand-motion, prompting the door behind him to unlock and open.

"Go inside, 'fore I change me mind." Spears muttered irritably. The three young women gave an appreciative nod to Spears before they entered, the door clicking shut behind them. They walked further into the infirmary to see a few doctors and nurses rushing around the place. The three of them walked over to the area and saw Jaune, lying in a medical bed with his aura flaring. However, instead of it being the pure white that they all remembered, there were small spots of black, like splatters on a blank canvas.

"What the..." Faith started. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman in a doctor's coat, with black hair and matching eyes, stopped them from going any further.

"I thought I told that spear-headed idiot not to let anyone in." She murmured to herself.

Faye picked up on it and showed her ID. "I wanted to check on Jaune, he's a close friend."

The woman scrutinized Faye's ID before sighing. "Alright. Well, we have no idea what's causing those black spots, much less where they came from." She explained, gesturing with a wave of her arm to Jaune's still form. "Some of us think that it's residue from a fight, others say his aura is going unstable."

The doc sighed. "There are just too many things we don't know about aura." She murmured. The doctor looked up and extended a hand to Faye. "Forgive me for the late introduction, it's been pretty hectic in here because of Mr. Arc. I am Doctor Lindsy Darche, or Doctor Darche, in short."

Faye took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. "Faye Lau, sort-of senior Division agent."

Darche raised an eyebrow. "Sort-of?" She inquired.

Faye nodded. "Yeah. I say that because even though I'm one of the agents that have been active longer, I'm still nearly a full generation behind the _true_ seniors."

Darche nodded in understanding, before turning to Faith and Jasmine. "And how about you two?"

Faith stepped forward first. "Faith Connors, nice to meet you. I would shake your hand, but..." she paused, glancing at the two trays occupying her hands, "...I'm kinda occupied at the moment."

Darche waved it off, and she turned to Jasmine. "And you?"

Jasmine smiled, before stepping forward confidently, her chest puffed out. "Jasmine Arc, Jaune's older cousin! Nice to meet you Doctor Darche!" She greeted enthusiastically.

"Likewise."

Darche led them away to another room to discuss Jaune's aura problems. She turned to Faith and gestured to a small red tray next to Jaune's bed. "Ms. Connors, just put that tray over there on that red tray. His nurse will feed it to him when he comes to."

Faith nodded and did as instructed, following Faye, Jasmine, and Doctor Darche into a neighboring room. "So," Darche began, "let's talk aura, eh?"

* * *

 **Beacon Academy; (J)NPR Dorm:**

Teams RWBY and (J)NPR were sitting together in a circle in the latter team's dorm room. In the center was a large sheet of paper, half crumpled and filled with notes and a multitude of words. There was also a thick tension in the room, one that would be felt after an argument.

"I keep telling you, he would like to relax and go to the spa! Imagine how many missions he's been on these past few weeks, and you want him to be even more active?" Pyrrha asked, her tone heavily irate.

"But imagine how boring it's been for him as well, Champs." Yang argued. "He'll want to have some fun too, right? And what better way than some arcades and night-clubs?"

Ruby groaned from beside her. "Yang, we're still minors, which means it's illegal for us to even step into a night-club."

Her partner, Weiss, nodded as well. "While I understand Yang's point of view, I also feel the need to point out that Pyrrha also has a point as well. He's probably stressed out right now, and he'll want to unwind. But," she interrupted Yang before she could argue, "yes, he would probably want to have some fun. So, I propose a compromise."

Yang and Pyrrha each raised a single eyebrow in interest, crossing a leg over the other in sync, and Blake couldn't help but think of the two Huntresses-in-Training as two gang bosses.

""Go on."" They said in unison.

Weiss sweatdropped, before continuing on. "First, we'll spend the first hour to two hours relaxing, helping him unwind, and then later, we'll go out and have some fun. How's that sound?"

Yang and Pyrrha stared at each other.

...and stared...

...and stared...

...and still stared...

...

...

(Cue Jeopardy Song)

...

Yang and Pyrrha slowly began to nod, before they each smiled. "That's sounds fine." The blonde brawler agreed, jutting out a hand for Pyrrha to shake.

The red-headed champion nodded as well. "That's sounds wonderful." They shook on it, their grips firm. Beside them, Weiss' eye twitched.

"I would believe you if your hands weren't trying to crush each other."

* * *

 **With Jaune...**

Pain.

It spread all across his body. Scalding, hot pain. He could barely move, and each breath he took burned his lungs. What was happening to him? He tried to open his eyes, but they hurt too. Squinting, he could barely make out anything. He was vaguely aware that he was inside of a white room. The hospital maybe? All he remembered was going to the infirmary, and then...

...what?

He couldn't remember anything after that. Did he get ambushed?

No, nobody would be able to get into the Base.

Did he faint? Probably.

His throat felt raw and dry, as if he'd been screaming for hours. He tried to look around for a glass of water, but he couldn't move his head without a jolt of pain shooting through his neck. He grunted, and forced himself into a seated position.

"...Help..." He croaked. His voice sounded hoarse.

"...Water..."

He tried to call out to someone, hopefully some kind of doctor.

"...Water..." He tried again.

Nobody came.

Jaune leaned back into his bed, his head pounding from the bright fluorescent lighting of the room. He closed his eyes, hoping that some sleep would alleviate the pain.

* * *

He opened his eyes. A wide field of green grass stretched to infinity ahead of him. He looked behind him, to see that he was standing beside the trunk of a large tree. Looking up, Jaune estimated that the branches grew outwards from the trunk in a 15 meter radius. He looked back out to the field, the wind lightly swaying the luscious grass and rustling the leaves of the giant tree. He took a step forward.

For what felt like hours, Jaune walked, no real destination or direction in mind. Occasionally, he looked back at the tree, only to find that the tree was not that far away, as if he had been taking mere baby steps. He sat down on the ground, feeling the tips of the grass graze against his fingertips. The wind continued to blow gently past him, and even from here, Jaune could hear the rustling of the tree leaves.

"Where am I?" He murmured to himself. He closed his eyes, revelling in the warm breeze.

Suddenly, he felt a presence in front of him, and he opened his eyes. His gaze fell upon a young girl, dressed in frilly, white sundress, and a wide brimmed hat. She had his sapphire eyes, and blonde hair. Only, there were splotches of black on both her skin and dress. He approached her cautiously, ready to go into a stance should he need to fight. He jumped a little when she began to speak.

"Why did you change?" She asked softly, her voice barely audible.

"Change? He asked in return, "What do you mean?"

The girl tilted her head, before shaking her head. "You used to be so innocent... I was your innocence... Now... look what I've become." The young girl looked down at her dress, a look of sadness in her eyes.

"You're... not yourself anymore... You've changed... You're being consumed by the darkness that comes with your work." She stated, looking back up at him.

"Please... stop changing."

Jaune walked towards her. "I'm... I'm sorry. I-I can't promise that." He hugged her close. She smelled like fresh flowers, and her skin, despite the black splatters, was smooth. "But I'll try. I'm sorry that I'm causing you so much pain, little miss."

Jaune felt moisture against his chest, and he knew that she was crying. "Hey... Hey, look. I'm sorry." He pulled away and held her shoulders, looking straight into her eyes. "Please don't cry." He said, using his sleeve to gently wipe away her tears.

"Hey... I never managed to catch your name. I don't want to keep calling you 'little miss,' and I doubt you'd like that either."

The girl seemed confused. "I... I don't have a name."

Jaune shook his head with a smile. "Now that just won't do. How about... Ino? For Innocence?" He suggested.

The girl thought about it, before nodding her head with a shy smile. "Yes... I'd like that."

Jaune chuckled. "Ino it is then."

The two walked across the field, the tree still not moving any further away from them.

"So what do you do here?" Jaune asked.

"Well... nothing really. I can make it snow here if I wanted to, and make snowmen. But that's it. It's really lonely, and you've never had enough aura to contact me before." Ino replied.

Jaune laid a hand on top of her hat. "Well, I think I'll try and keep you company. Do you think I could talk to you while I'm conscious?"

Ino tilted her head to the side. "I... don't know. I've never tried."

"Well, when I wake up, I will definitely try. And if you can't, then I'll visit you when I sleep. You won't be lonely anymore, I promise."

Ino smiled, before running away from him. "Hey!"

She turned to him, blowing a raspberry in the process. "C'mon Mr. Slowpoke, can't keep up with a little girl like me?"

Jaune grinned. "Oh, it's on. I'll show you speed."

"Last one to the tree is a rotten egg!" Ino called out as she ran for the tree.

Jaune laughed. "I'd rather not smell!"

The sounds of their laughter echoed throughout the wide field, the sun that hung in the sky of this dream glowing just a bit brighter, and rising just a bit higher than before.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright guys! This will be the last 'peaceful' chapter until the real action starts, so I can't wait to begin writing! Also, yes, I did in fact bring in Faith Connors from Mirror's Edge because... well, I just love her. I mean, it's not often that you see a female main character that can kick all kinds of a** and do parkour at the same time. At least, in my experience. I'm still young, so I haven't really seen any games like that. Feel free to mention any in the reviews if you want to. I just wish they came out with a sequel to Mirror's Edge already, though. That was an awesome game, in my opinion.**

 **Anyway, like I said, this is the last peaceful chapter until after the action is over, so until then...**

 **IU13, out!**


	9. Chapter 9 (Finally)

**A/N: Alright guys! Here it is! The long awaited chapter 9! I really have nothing else to say right now, other than the fact that life's pretty hectic at present. From homework to tests, there's a lot goin' on right now. But I will survive.**

 **I WILL SURVIVE! HEEEEYY!  
**

 **And yes, I know I lied and said that this would be coming out in a week. When did I say that again? Oh, that's right, nearly TWO WEEKS AGO.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all got what you wanted for the holidays, and if you don't celebrate said holidays, then I hope you at least enjoyed the Winter Break. Also, happy New Year! I know, I'm probably the lamest writer on this site to be saying this after all of them have already happened. All in one chapter, too.**

 **Welp, enough about that. Here are my replies to our reviews.**

 **Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov: That does seem like it would flow with canon, as Jaune's main weapon _is_ Crocea Mors, so I think it would be a good idea to have his load out like that. I mean, obviously, he'll still use his guns, so it's not like we're discarding them. Anyway, I'm still tossing around ideas at the moment. Also, yeah, I'm looking forward to writing the action parts, though it might suck because I am not good at writing fight scenes and the like. Also, I can't really offer any criticism on what you're good and bad at. **

**I'm an amateur writer after all. Still learnin' the ropes. Thanks for leaving a review, and thanks for the positive reinforcement!**

 **FanficCrossoverMaster15: Yeah, but that'll be all until we are further into the story. Also, the Blues are from Mirror's Edge, in case you didn't know. And if you did know, then yes, I included the Blues. It's kind of intriguing to me , the concept of corrupt cops. Not that I'm saying to support them, it justs interests me to know that there are officers out there that are willing to put money over honor, and the task to protect others, you know what I mean?**

 **TopHatGuy: Thank you for telling me about this! I honestly didn't know about it 'till now! Thanks, man! and a** **ctually, no, I am DEATHLY afraid of heights. Literally, it's to the point where I go queasy on roller-coasters, and not because it's moving, but because it climbs so high. But for the second one, I guess you'd be right in saying that. Though, I'll try to cut back on doing that, as it'll probably get old after a while.** **Also, ouch! The gentle stab, eh? I know I'm a slow writer, but I promise you, I do it because I care! :)**

 **Kamzil118: Thank you! But, like I said in the first chapter, at the beginning, this was just a small idea. But thank you anyway, for reviewing.**

 **Amvmaster: It's alright, I'm not offended. All author's have their weaknesses after all, so really, I just took that as reason to improve. Though next time, just be sure to clarify first, alright? Anyway, thanks for the review!**

 **kloensy1: I hope it continues to get better! Also, that plan of yours seems to be going pretty smoothly. It would... be a shame if someone were to... oh, I don't know... be helping Ruby, in a way? *Disarms the mines and relocates sweets***

 **...Oh, Ruby~? I think there are some... desserts that require consumption in the Tower Basement.**

 **I'm sorry kloensy, but really, can you say no to Ruby when she pouts at you, full force? Because I can't. Nothing personal, (God, I feel really cheesy for using this line), it's just business. *Vanishes into mist***

 **Kylesilos: Oh, okay then. If the poll says yes, then I will gladly do that!**

 **EzioIsPIRATE: Thank you! And I highly recommend that you play the Division. It's... not for everyone, but it is awesome in my books!**

 **bernardo: I PM'd you the specifics of the gun concepts. And I love the idea that you submitted to me, keep that imagination going! Also, I'm sorry if it doesn't say your full name. For some reason, the website isn't letting me.**

 **Nickshepard: Well, I already happen to have both a "heavy" pistol and a "light" pistol for Jaune, so that's already got that aspect covered. However, I still appreciate the fact that you at least thought about it! Also, I'm doing this "Weapon Idea" thing because I want to include my readers into my story, as a way to incorporate them into my stories, if that makes any sense. But anyway, thank you for giving your input!**

 **Arsao Tome: Yeah, I didn't want my french to go to waste. Also, I absolutely suck at coming up with names, most of them going to Asian roots or something like that. And I'm NOT saying Asian names suck, I'm just saying that it'd probably get old if I kept using names from a certain region of the world.**

 **Arc-Angel-Of-Fire: I kinda agree with you there. I mean, yeah, in the beginning, she was one of my favorite characters simply because she was an enigma. But now... well, as you so eloquently put it, she's a b*tch.**

 **Ghost-407: Well, yes, that is true, it would be a very effective combo. However, I'm also doing this whole "Weapon Idea" thing with you guys because I want to incorporate you guys into my stories somehow as well. I feel that, since I'm an author, I should honor you guys in some shape or form, besides just replying to your reviews. And I'm not at all saying that your idea is bad, in fact, I'll probably use it for one of the characters later on, all I'm saying is that I want to include the readers as well into my story. But thank you for the suggestion.**

 **Reading Rainbow: I definitely agree with you there. Thanks for leaving a review!**

 **25217: Actually, I know about it, but I haven't thought about buying it. As of right now, I'm still playing vanilla Division.**

 **Shrek: 0_0**

 **And that's all for reviews! Once again, I would to thank ALL of you guys for taking the time and leaving a review on this story. I really appreciate that. Also, i would like to thank everyone for leaving their weapon ideas and a vote for said weapon ideas in the poll I left on my profile!**

 **Here are the results:**

 **S.C.A.R.A.B: 9 votes**

 **IGL-STRZ5 (Eagle): 1 vote**

 **Kahon: 1 vote**

 **Lucifer: 1 vote**

 **Wow, you guys must've liked that S.C.A.R.A.B, huh? Anyway, I would like to thank Mechassault Man, Darkkseid, TheOtherSanics, and bernardo. (It still won't let me put your full name! I think it thinks your name is a link to another website, I think that's why it won't let me put your full name.) I would also like to thank everyone else who submitted their ideas! Don't worry! Your ideas will be used by some of the later characters, so yours won't be forgotten!**

 **Anyway, onto the story!**

* * *

 **Remnant National Post Office; Division Base of Operations:  
In the infirmary...**

Jaune woke up with a splitting headache. Looking around, his vision bleary, he could barely make out his surroundings. Wherever he was, it was colored in a bright white. Not something that's nice to wake up to after being knocked out, but at least he got a bed. A rather soft and comfy bed, he might add.

He spotted a red object to his right, a delicious aroma emanating from it. Reaching over, careful not to move too much, he grabbed the edge of the red object and pulled it towards him. Carefully, he set it down in his lap. Rubbing his eyes, Jaune saw that it was... rib-eye steak?!

Jaune did not hesitate to begin eating. Foregoing any kind of table manners and utensils, in favor of devouring the large slab of meat in front of him, Jaune finished his meal within a span of 10 minutes, finishing his mash potatoes and broccoli in an extra 2 minutes. He sighed contentedly, closing his eyes, about to go back to sleep, when his eyes snapped wide open in another brief moment of pain. His hand immediately flew to his temple, said limb's protest being ignored in the process, and he massaged the side of his head, hoping that it would provide some semblance of relief. The headache slowly faded away, but Jaune could still feel the small throbs in his skull.

He sat there in contemplation, rapidly mulling over the whole situation. As he was going over the details of his predicament, Jaune's eyes lit up when he remembered something, or rather, someone.

'Ino?' He thought to himself, trying to use his aura to connect to her.

'Ino, are you there?'

...

...

...

' _Jaune?_ ' A small voice replied.

'Ino, can you hear me?!' He asked frantically.

' _Yes, I can hear you Jaune. I was afraid that you would forget, but knowing you, you wouldn't have._ ' Ino said, causing Jaune to smile.

"Thanks. Where... Where are we?" He asked. Stiffly, he sat up in his bed.

' _I'd say we're in a hospital._ ' Ino commented, and Jaune gave a grunt in agreement.

"Yeah, certainly seems like it." Jaune groaned as he pushed himself out of the bed. He was dressed in a hospital gown, as he could feel the cold air brush against his... jewels...

"F**k, it's cold in here." Jaune muttered, stumbling through his section, trying to get to the door to the rest of the hospital. He barely made it two feet before his vision became blurry. "What... W-What the hell... is this...?" He mumbled as a white hot pain flashed through his head, the amount nearly making his knees buckle. He staggered a little, having lost his equilibrium in that short moment, and he fell to one knee. His breaths were long and labored, and it felt as if he were breathing through a straw.

'Ino... what's... what's happening to me?' He asked in his head, his body too wracked with pain to function.

' _I'm sorry Jaune, but I don't what's happening either. Your aura is acting weirdly. It's... fluctuating..._ ' She replied, worry laced in her voice.

"W-What... does that... mean...?" Jaune gritted out through clenched teeth, his body soaked with sweat. The pain was becoming too much to bare, and Jaune fought to keep a grip on his state of consciousness. He tried standing up again, but the pain in his head forced him back down, and this time, he fell all the way to the ground, his stomach pressing against the cold tiles of the hospital floor.

' _I'm not sure... wait... someone's coming this way!_ ' Ino hissed urgently, and Jaune forced his head to look up. The door to the wing opened, revealing a tall man, he who wore a grey, untucked dress shirt and black pants, as well as a dark, crimson cape. His black hair was combed backwards, with some stray strands falling over his forehead, and his red eyes glared down at the Arc with suspicion.

Jaune glared back, struggling to push himself up on his feet. He fought through the pain and managed to kneel, then he stood. Jaune's body screamed in agony, but he ignored it. Jaune's eyes dashed all over the man, looking for any weaknesses and weapons. After a few moments, Jaune's gaze rested on something protruding from the man's side, behind his back. His eyes narrowed at the object, before he came to a realization.

'Sword...' He noted to himself, his fists clenching.

He dropped into a fighting stance, whatever he could manage given his current state. If he was going to die, he was going to die fighting. Immediately, Jaune was looking for any weaknesses the man may have. 'No limpage in the legs. Hesitation in movement? No, that can't be.' Jaune thought to himself.

The man suddenly laughed, making Jaune confused. Why was he laughing? Then, that confusion turned to anger.

'He's laughing because I'm weak.'

Jaune's eyes flared with a _literal_ blue flame, and his vision was blurry no longer.

'He's laughing because I'm vulnerable.'

A deep growl resonated from deep within his throat, and his glare increased in intensity.

'He's laughing...

Jaune's muscles tensed.

'...because I can do nothing.'

"RRRRRAAAAGH!" Jaune lept forward with a roar, and he swung his fist wildly in an attempt to hit the man. The man ducked underneath it and retaliated with a punch of his own, his fist colliding with Jaune's stomach. The pain returned ten-fold, and Jaune yelled in order to remain conscious. He stumbled backwards, nearly losing his footing. He looked up again and saw the man walking towards him.

Jaune attacked again, jumping into the air and lashing out with a kick that connected with the man's face. The man was sent flying backwards because of the force, and he crashed through the hospital doors, nearly tearing them off of their hinges. Jaune watched the doorway, his breath labored, and his body sore. The man slowly pushed himself up and smirked, before he sped forward. Jaune stumbled to the side to dodge, but the man's fist swung out and sent Jaune's face to the floor, and the pain nearly knocked him out once more. Jaune moved to get up.

Until he felt the edge of a blade underneath his chin. He turned slowly, looking up at the man with the large sword in defiance. He glared at him with as much heat as possible. There was a beat of silence.

"Do it." He growled, leaning towards the blade. He felt the sword prick his skin, and he knew that it drew blood. He waited for the man to end it, to swing the sword one final time and finish the fight. The two stayed that way for a solid minute. Jaune tensed as the blade wavered a little, but the expression on the man's face remained unmoved. Relaxed. Passive.

And what angered Jaune even further, was that the man looked utterly, utterly bored.

Suddenly, much to Jaune's surprise, the man retracted the blade and returned it to its spot on his back. The man smirked one last time, before walking away.

"What the...?" Jaune murmured, confused as all hell. He glared at the man as he struggled to stand, his legs wobbling and aching at the amount of effort the simple action took. He leaned on a nearby by rolling-tray for support. He cursed as the tray rolled away, and he collapsed onto the ground once more. He looked up at the man, just in time to see him vanish in a flurry of black feathers.

"Who... Who the hell... was that...?" Jaune mumbled, still on the floor and staring at the doorway in which the man had once stood. He lay for a moment, his breathing labored as usual, but even then, it was harder to breathe than before. Well, that should be expected, given that he had just been in a fight with a, Jaune reluctantly admitted, skilled fighter. Whether he was a huntsman or a mere mercenary, Jaune did not know, and neither did he care. All he could focus on right now was the pain that wracked his body, desperately trying to use his aura to lessen it. However, his aura did not heed his call, and remained dormant. And yet, Jaune could still feel its presence within himself.

Before he could think any further, the scuffling of feet brought his gaze back to the doorway, in which he saw a group of diversely colored people, all chatting with each other with happy smiles. That is, until they laid their eyes on him, and in that instant, they rushed at him. Jaune, ignoring whatever protest his body made, stood as quickly as possible, getting into a fighting stance. His vision was blurry, and it got worse when he made the effort to stand, so he could barely make out the faces of the people in front of him, who had stopped 2 meters away.

"Jaune?" One of them asked. Jaune located the owner of the high-pitched voice, to his immediate left, and his gaze snapped to her. He could only see a haze of red through his wonky vision, and he could barely make out the silver on her face.

"Ruby?" He groaned, his hands lowering back to his sides. A sudden bout of exhaustion overcame him, and he gave a wide yawn as he wobbled from side to side. Two of the people from the group, one in green and another in yellow, went up to him and hooked his arms over their shoulders.

"Woah there, Vomit Boy. You shouldn't be standing right now, especially with how you are." The one in yellow said.

"Yang?" He mumbled, his body sagging in their grip.

A calm voice spoke next, "Yang is right, you need your rest." The two began to guide him somewhere, hopefully to the nearest bed.

"Ren? Is that you?"

He felt the person in green's grip shift. "Yes, it is me Jaune." Ren replied. Jaune felt his body being lifted, then set down onto a soft, comfortable surface, probably his bed. For a few seconds, his vision remained foggy, but it eventually cleared, and Jaune was able to see his friends. They all wore expressions of both concern and relief, though Jaune was unsure why the latter was present.

"How... H-How long have I been out?" Jaune asked. They paused and looked at each other, sharing these odd glances.

"Jaune... you've been unconscious for a week." A voice to his left said, and Jaune turned to see that it was his partner's, Pyrrha. The sentence she uttered threw him for a loop, and his eyes widened by a small fraction, the only indication of his surprise.

'A week?' he thought. 'I've been out for a week? What happened to me?'

"What?" He murmured.

Ruby popped up on his right, nodding with a concerned expression. "Yeah, we came to visit you a few days ago when you didn't come to Vale like you said!"

Jaune's chest panged a little with guilt. He scratched the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. "Yeah... I did say that, didn't I? Sorry."

Weiss rolled her eyes from her position at the foot of the bed. "You have nothing to be sorry about. The doctors told us that your aura acted up without your knowledge, so it's not you fault."

"Although, I'm curious," Blake said, and everyone turned to her, "why _did_ your aura act up? What was the cause?"

Jaune shrugged. 'Ino, do you have any ideas?' he asked mentally.

' _No, sorry I don't,_ ' she replied. Jaune groaned. Some answers would be really nice right now. He tried to reach out for his aura, grasping at what was supposed to be the familiar warmth of his soul. Instead, all he could grasp were wisps, as if his aura was nothing but smoke from a fire.

"Dammit! I can't tap into my aura," he informed the others, eliciting worried expressions from them. What did it mean when you literally could not feel your aura, your soul? Normally, this only applied to Grimm, as they have no soul to begin with. But... for a human to have an aura... and then suddenly find it missing...

Jaune sighed. "I just can't catch a break, can I?" he muttered.

* * *

 **Later...**

Pyrrha was worried as she waved at her leader. Rather, she was frustrated. And the source of her feelings and emotions?

Said leader and partner, Jaune Arc.

Sure, she understood that he was a Division agent, and she saw first-hand what Division agents threw themselves into, but it still gave her a mini heart-attack overtime she got a call saying that Jaune had been injured in the field, or Jaune himself telling her. In fact, the latter was probably worse because she could hear the pain in his voice. She gave a soft growl, attracting the attention of her other friends.

"What's wrong, Pyrrha?" Blake asked, her bow twitching. She probably heard her first.

"Hm?" Pyrrha hummed, looking over her shoulder, "It's nothing, Blake. Just thinking."

Yang suddenly appeared next to her, slinging an arm over the champion's shoulder. "Oh? About what?" she asked suggestively. "About Vomit Boy?"

Pyrrha's face flushed a little, but she had long since gotten used the blonde's antics. "Yes, about Jaune. I'm worried about him. Well, about what he does, anyway. It's so dangerous, and it may have been the reason why his aura's been acting up!"

Weiss rested a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "Pyrrha, I'm sure he'll be fine. And even then, our job is dangerous as well."

The champion shook her head. "No, not as dangerous as Jaune's. He gets sent into battle with _other people_. People far more intelligent and dangerous than the Grimm could ever hope to be. And what's worse is that- I don't even know how he can be so nonchalant about killing people! It's another person, for Oum's sake! He has no remorse for killing or even the notion of it!"

Pyrrha stopped to take a breath after her small rant. Suddenly, a pair of black and red boots walked in front of her, and she looked up to see a pair of silver orbs looking at her.

"Jaune does have remorse," Ruby said, barely above a whisper, but just loud enough for everyone to hear. "He just... doesn't show it. He doesn't like killing-"

"I know that Ruby, but-" Pyrrha interrupted, only to be interrupted herself by the red reaper holding a finger up to her lips.

"But what? He hates killing, but he got used to it because it's his job." Ruby retorted, eyebrows furrowed. Weiss had to raise an eyebrow herself; the expression was foreign on the reaper's face. "He's a good person at heart, and that's all that matters. He's doing so that we won't have to bare that burden." Ruby added, thinking about Jaune's words after her first kill.

She shivered a little.

Pyrrha stared at Ruby for a full minute, her face stuck with her mouth slightly agape. That expression turned into a smile soon enough. A small smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"You're right Ruby. I should never have doubted him." Pyrrha said, pulling a 'Jaune' and scratching the back of her head.

Ren stepped up to her. "It's okay Pyrrha. You were just worried about our leader," he assured, "However, we should also be worrying about Ice Day. The doctors said that Jaune will be free to leave tomorrow, and Ice Day is also tomorrow."

Nora nodded vigorously. "Yeah! And we can party all night until the sun rises!" She exclaimed.

Ren patted her shoulder. "Yes, if Jaune allows it. Despite his... occupation, he is still our team leader. And even if he does allow it, we don't even have our dorms decorated." He pointed out.

Ruby snapped her fingers with an expression of realization. "You're right! Let's go get some supplies and we'll welcome Jaune back home with Ice Day cheer!"

Yang fist pumped before putting said fist out. "Everyone yell 'Ice Day' on three! One! Two! Three!"

""ICE DAY!""

* * *

 **Tomorrow...**

Jaune groaned a little as he got up from his bed, his arms still a little sore from the needles the doctors had stuck in him for blood samples. They were still trying to figure out this whole aura mess, but Jaune's body still functioned normally; therefore, they deemed him healthy enough to leave the hospital. Really, at the current moment, Jaune wasn't much different than a city civilian.

And Oum did he feel like one.

Jaune still had his armor, which made him feel a little more secure, but without his aura, he still felt vulnerable. It was like walking out into a field of gunfire wearing only spandex. And he was no X-ray or Vav.

Looking around, he was scanning the environment for threats, and just to admire the scenery too. It was snowing outside, and the streets were filled with decorations for Ice Day. It seemed that everything bad was put on hold for today, which was good. He walked over to the window and looked down at the streets, where saw that there were Vale policemen lining the streets with rifles in hand. They stretched all the way down to the end of the street, where they probably continued on around the corner.

Jaune was still a little skeptical about the amount of security the officers provided, given the crisis that he was called out for in the first place, but he supposed it was enough to hold off any thugs that wanted to ruin today.

Maybe all the bad guys were celebrating Ice Day too?

Jaune entertained the thought with a small smile as he headed out of the hospital. According to Roy, he was to go to Beacon Academy for 'recovery', (which to Jaune sounded like a lot of bullsh** and that Roy just wanted him out of the game for a while), but he wasn't really complaining. Plus, he'd get to see his friends and celebrate the holidays with them. He at least had to feel guilty that he broke the promise he made to spend time with them.

As he walked out into the cold, snow-covered streets of Vale, Jaune searched the buildings for stores. He had to get gifts for his friends. As he looked around, he noticed all of the stores were closed in favor of stalls containing food, toys, and miscellaneous trinkets for sale. He looked around at all the trinkets for sale, and found them all lacking. Then he remembered that his sister, Verte, had a friend that owned a store in Vale. It was supposedly on Jayke Street, which was about a block due east of his current position.

Jaune began walking to east, acquiring his direction by the sun's position. He walked for a minute, a full 60 seconds, when he arrived at Jayke Street. He looked down the street and searched for the shop, murmuring its name under his breath.

"June's... June's... Ju- There it is." He began walking to a decently sized store 20 yards down on the opposite side of the street. Once he was outside of the store, he began his observation of the store front. There were two medium-sized windows on either side of an ornate wooden door. Above the door was a sign held up by a nail, which had a stylized 'June's' written in gold on it. Behind the windows, Jaune could see the inside of the establishment, which had its lights on.

"Good," Jaune murmured, "somebody's here."

Jaune gently pushed the door open, the warm air from inside heating up his frozen cheeks. He looked around at the interior, which held a homely feel to it, with the fireplace and recliners to his left, the warm red walls and the Victorian crown-molding. The end of the store was a good 30 yards back from the front of the store, and in between were shelving units with toys, clothes, jewelry, and even a few weapon parts, probably for the Huntsmen and Huntresses. A few feet away was a young woman, maybe in her late teens, early twenties, standing next to a wooden counter with a scroll in her hands. She had black hair which faded into purple towards the tips, and mismatched eyes, one a dark brown-almost black- and a purple-ish eye, as well as a light complexion. She wore a purple and black striped knit sweater, a pair of dark denim jeans, and a simple pair of purple and white low-top sneakers.

She looked up from her scroll and a smile appeared on her face. "Ah! Hello, and welcome to June's! My name is-well, June, June Verbena. How may I help you today?"

Jaune returned the smile, and held out a hand for a shake, which she took. "Hello June, I'm looking for a few gifts for my friends. Unfortunately, I've been in the hospital, and I haven't been able to get any gifts for them. Could you help me?" He asked.

June nodded. "Sure, c'mon and follow me. While we look around, tell me what they're like," she motioned for Jaune as she walked to the shelves. Jaune followed, looking around at the store's selection. He saw a thermal optic for a sniper rifle, sitting in its own lit up display, and immediately grabbed that for Ruby.

"So? What are your friends like?" June inquired. Jaune continued to walk with her, but he hummed in thought.

"Well..." Jaune thought of Ren, his brother in all but blood. "One of them is quiet, reserved, yet very thoughtful and kind. He's a practitioner in martial arts and loves sleep. He loves to cook, but he mostly cooks pancakes. I think he wants to expand his horizons but he has no method as to how."

June interrupted him with a finger to his lips. "Say no more. Here!" She shoved a cookbook into his hands. Jane's eyes widened at the sheer thickness of the book. It was about half a foot thick, and twice as long.

"Wh-What the-"

June appeared in front of him with a small smile. "It's a book full of meals from the other three kingdoms. They're pretty hard to come by, as most cook books sold here are by Valean chefs."

Jaune gave her a more nervous smile, and held up the cookbook. "Th-Thanks."

"Alright, one down, and how many more to go?" June asked.

"Six."

She nodded, and they continued on. "Alright, what's another one?"

Jaune immediately thought of Yang, the boisterous blonde popping in his mind like a firework. She pretty much was a firework, for how she explosive she is. "There's one who's boisterous, and very explosive, both in personality and temper. She loves to have fun, and get in trouble. Normally, us having fun gets us in trouble. She also loves parties, and she absolutely loves puns."

June smirked at the tinge of annoyance in Jaune's voice at the last one. The smirk slowly turned evil as she held up another book that she picked up from a nearby shelf.

"Here ya' go!"

Jaune looked down at the cover of the book. He felt his heart die on the inside a little.

"D-Do you think there's anything else for her? L-Like... uh... like a mug or something?" Jaune asked. June raised an eyebrow, before she deadpanned at him.

"You're gonna get a girl a mug? Really? I'm sure a pun book is a fantastic gift for her!" June exclaimed, gesturing at the _Puns for Beginners and the Punworthy; How to Come Up With Puns_ in his hands.

Jaune gulped. Sure, it probably was a good gift for Yang. But he wasn't worried about her puns, oh no, he knew how to tune everything out. However, he didn't know if his friends knew how to do that, and he worried about how they might kill him when they see him give Yang a pun book.

"A-Alright."

June nodded in satisfaction before continued to walk through the store.

"Okay, your next friend?"

Jaune thought for a moment, before his partner, Pyrrha, came to mind. "Uh..."

What does she like? Jaune couldn't for the life of him figure out what Pyrrha would like as a gift. A plushy? No, that'd seem too childish, wouldn't it? Maybe a scope like Ruby? No, that'd seem bad to get two people the same gift. Maybe-

"Hello?"

Jaune was snapped out of his train of thought when June waved a hand in front of his face. "Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about what gift she'd like." Jaune said, scratching the side of his cheek with his index finger. June tilted her head at her in a questioning manner, (which, to be honest, looked kinda cute in Jaune's opinion), but nodded soon afterwards.

"Gotcha. So, what's she like?"

Multiple things popped into his mind, ranging from kind and caring, to pretty and se-

' _Jaune..._ ' Ino warned, making Jaune jump. He had completely forgotten about her!

'I know Ino, bad thoughts.' He told her, chastising himself for ever thinking that about his partner. Although, he at least made the effort to justify his action with teenage hormones.

'What do I do Ino? I don't know what to get Pyrrha? Can't you, I don't know, hack into my memories or something?'

 _'If I were able to, then I would've already you exactly what Ms. Nikos likes._ ' Ino replied, and Jaune could just picture her rolling her eyes.

Then, it came to him. In their dorm room, Pyrrha always mentioned a tournament fighter that she wanted to meet. Jaune chuckled as he thought of the way her green irises lit up like shining emeralds whenever she spoke of her.

Yes, _her_. And luckily, she was having a White Day tournament in honor of the holidays.

Jaune decided to leave that for later, and focus on the rest.

"Okay, well, I have a friend who absolutely loves to read. She doesn't talk much, but she's a good friend nonetheless. She's calm, yet caring when need be, and the books she reads? Practically smut..."

* * *

 **Later...**

"Thank you June, you really saved me. I'll be sure to recommend this shop to all of my friends." Jaune said as he made his way to the door, June walking alongside him.

"Thank you, sir. By the way, I never caught your name?" June inquired, an eyebrow raised.

Jaune smirked before putting on a crestfallen expression on his face. "I'm hurt June-y, after all the time we spent playing together, wearing dresses and putting on makeup? You forgot about me?"

June squinted her eyes at him, looking at his face extensively. Her eyes lit up when she figured it out, and a bone-crushing hug came soon after. "Oh. My. Gosh. Jaune! Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

Jaune smiled. "Because knowing you, you'd probably try and give everything to me for free. And, well, I wanted to help out your business."

June punched the Arc boy in the arm. "You jerk. Of course you would do that. How have you been? It's been forever!" She exclaimed, dragging him to one of the chairs by the fireplace.

"So! What's been going on with my favorite she-man?" June teased, waving her eyebrows.

Jaune rolled his eyes and scowled playfully at her. "We both know you forced me into those dresses, you minx."

She laughed in response, patting Jaune's knee in a mockingly pitiful manner. "Aw, but you looked so adorable in them! C'mon, how about you dress up for a photo, eh?"

Jaune's eyes widened in horror when she pointed at a dress hanging on one of the nearby racks. It was colored a hot pink, with a black corset, and frills on the unbelievable short skirt.

"HELL NO!" Jaune yelled, standing up with fierce indignation burning in his eyes. That fire turned into annoyance when he saw June rolling on the floor, laughing in hysterics.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my Oum! Your-HAHAHA... Your... Your reaction!" June cried out in between breaths. "Freakin' priceless! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He glared at her for a second, before he himself began to chuckle. He missed her a lot. Back then, in their village, she was like another sister, and she treated him like her little brother. She was also the main reason why his sisters practically turned him into their life-sized dress up doll as he was growing up, much to his misfortune. Seriously, the fact that he actually looked like a girl as a kid was embarrassing enough, but to then make him wear girls' _clothing?_

Humiliating.

But he chuckled nonetheless, his shoulders shaking as June did the same beside him. His eyes caught a glimpse of his watch, and they widened when he saw the time. It was 3:00PM. He was supposed to be there at 3:15!

"Ah, sh**. I gotta go, June." He said, standing up. June thwacked on the head for the language, but the smile still remained.

"Language mister. Anyway, go on ahead. Here's my scroll number, so be sure to call me, alright? I'd love to catch up some more." June said as she walked Jaune to the door.

"Of course, now that I know where you are, I'll be sure to visit too," Jaune said while walking backwards, "Bye June!"

June waved back, smiling as she watched him disappear around the corner.

It was nice to see her favorite crossdresser again.

* * *

 **Academy Docks/Courtyard; Beacon Academy:**

Jaune took a breath of fresh air as he stepped out of the bullhead. Thankfully, his motion sickness, while a true ailment, was not nearly as severe as he made it out to be. Unlike his sisters.

 _All of them._

He sighed when he looked up at Beacon Tower, the hulking mass looming above him. So many good memories at this place, yet he'd probably have to relocate after his mission was done. There was no way he'd be able to meld back into normal life. At least, not here.

He clutched the bag and case tighter. Speaking of which...

He looked down at the two objects in his hands. One of them was a large duffel bag, filled with the presents that he had gotten for his friends. All wrapped in wrapping paper, courtesy of June.

In the other hand, was the case for the gun Jaune had designed. He hoped the company that made it did a good job. He stood a little straighter, plastering a smile onto his face, and began his walk to the student dormitory building. As he walked, he passed by a few students strolling around the courtyard. Some were couples, enjoying the company of their significant other, others were friends hanging out. Some were just people taking a walk around the school.

Yet, all of them, whoever they were, stopped and stared at him when he passed. He heard them whisper, but he couldn't make out their words. He could already guess, though. It made him uncomfortable nonetheless, but he ignored them in favor of being cheerful.

He pushed open the door to the dormitory with his foot, and stepped into the heated lobby. Looking around, he spotted the elevator, pushed the 'up' button with his elbow, and waited patiently as the elevator car came down. Once it arrived, he stepped in through the sliding doors, and once again hit the button with his elbow, this time to the 3rd floor.

His friends' floor.

The smile on his face grew wider. He couldn't stop it from doing so, neither would he try to.

The elevator dinged, and Jaune looked up at the digital display to make sure he was on the right floor. Once he was sure, he stepped out and took a right, where his team and team RWBY's dorms would be.

He reached the end of the hallway, and paused, deciding which door to knock on. He shrugged, and put down both the case and the duffel bag. He stood in the middle of the hallway, and reached to his right, knocking on JNPR's door, then reached over to his left, knocking on team RWBY's door.

He expected Ruby and Nora to come rushing out first, crushing in a hug sandwich.

What he did NOT expect, was for everyone, sans Blake, Weiss, and Ren, to rush out of team RWBY's room. Did he mention they tackled him to the ground?

"Gah!"

 **(THUD)**

Well, that's what happened.

"Ow..." Jaune groaned underneath the pile of people on top of him.

He opened his eyes, greeted by the sight of four girls grinning, (Pyrrha's being sheepish).

He gave a weak grin back, but then noticed the pain in his back. He looked over his shoulder and caught the corner of the gun case in his peripheral vision.

"G... Guys?" he groaned, "Can you... g-get off of me... please?"

The girls took notice of the black case that Jaune was smushed against, and immediately scrambled to their feet. Weiss and Blake each took their respective partners away by the ear, and Ren led Nora away from Jaune by the hand.

Pyrrha shuffled her feet. "Sorry about that."

Jaune gave a hearty laugh, and patted her shoulder with a reassuring smile. "Heh, don't worry 'bout it!" he exclaimed. He looked around at the others with an eyebrow raised.

"So... did I miss anything fun?"

Ruby managed to break from Weiss' grip and raised her hand, squealing and bouncing on her feet. "Ooh! Ooh! You missed the food fight!"

Yang gave her own partner the slip and joined her sister. "Yeah! Ms. Goodwitch got pretty mad at us though. We're lucky we didn't get detention!"

Nora piped up over Jaune's shoulder, resting her chin on it. "Yeah! But I think it's because the Headmaster was there!" she explained excitedly, "Do you think he bribed Ms. Goodwitch into letting us go?!"

Ren patted his childhood friend on the head. "Nora," he began, "I don't think Ms. Goodwitch is that type of person. Plus, Headmaster Ozpin is her _boss_. I think she's _supposed_ to do what he says."

Nora stood there, staring into space, before turning around and giving Ren a full body hug. "You're right! That's why I love you!" she exclaimed, but her cheeks immediately burned a bright red, and she retreated away.

"But we're not... together-together..." she said, trailing off and poking her index fingers together. Jaune rolled his eyes and patted her shoulder.

"Got it. So, who's ready for presents?!" He asked, earning cheers from his friends. He moved to take his gun case, but found it missing. He looked around frantically, before his eyes spotted Ruby on her bed, the gun case open and revealing the gun inside.

The gun was by no means sleek, yet it had that futuristic feel to it. It was about 39" long, and was colored in a shiny silver and glossy obsidian black. There was a magnified optic already installed, though it was not yet activated. There was a small seam in the middle of the barrel, indicating that the barrel shifted, and located under the handguard was a foregrip.

Ruby's eyes lit up like a kid at a toy store, and her hands immediately took the gun out of its case. In said case, there was a pocket on the lid, which held a total of six magazines. She inspected the gun from all around, and concluded that the magazine was loaded into the top, much like the old Mistralian P90. She was about to press one of the three buttons near the grip when the gun was lifted out of her hands.

She stared at the empty space that the gun used to be, before slowly turning to the criminal. She found Jaune raising an eyebrow at her, his gun resting in his hands.

Jaune himself pressed the button near the grip, and the barrel collapsed into the gun, and the magnified optic flipped down to the right side, leaving a smaller red dot sight as a replacement. He pressed another one of the buttons, right underneath the first one. Two panels folded outwards from the front of the gun, and the magnified optic came back up to the top, now making the gun look like a crossbow. He grinned in satisfaction.

"Now all that's left is to test it," he murmured. He went to the case, which was still on Ruby's bed, and rummaged through the pocket with the magazines. He frowned.

"No bolts?" he mumbled. Ruby popped up beside him with a questioning expression on her face.

"What's up?"

Jaune turned to her, frown firmly in place. "They didn't send any crossbow bolts for my gun's crossbow mode," he told her, the irritation evident in his voice. She patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"Don't worry, the same thing happened to me when I first got the magazines for Crescent Rose. The darn company got me the magazines, but they didn't send the bullets!" She cried out. Jaune sweatdropped.

"Uh... Ruby? From what I've seen of Crescent Rose so far, she shoots standard .50 BMG DI **[1]** , right?" Jaune asked.

Ruby nodded with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, why?"

Jaune sighed. "Ruby, they're not special order. That's why they didn't send the bullets. My crossbow bolts _are_ special order. Nobody in Vale City sells them."

Ruby stared at him for a full minute. Her mouth opened and she let out an 'ah' of understanding.

Jaune flicked on the small toggle switch on the left side of the gun, hidden by a neat little white spring cover, the switch turning on the fusion reactor that powered the gun. The squares that ran along the barrel lit up a bright orange, and the optic glowed the same color. An orange energy string materialized into existence from the two "arms" of the crossbow, and stretched to the back, right above the trigger, ready to be fired.

Jaune inspected the weapon for any faults, switching between its three modes, before nodding in satisfaction, powering it down, and stowing it away in its case.

"What did you name your weapon?" he heard someone ask. He expected it to be Ruby, but upon turning, he found out that it was Weiss.

"Ah, I call it S.C.A.R.A.B. Pretty neat, eh?" He said, not even bothering to hide the pride in his voice.

Weiss crossed her arms. "Hmph! Not nearly as elegant as my Myrtenaster!" She proclaimed, her head turned and chin held up high in the air. Jaune couldn't help but chuckle.

"It wasn't made to be elegant, Snow Angel. It's supposed to be efficient, and lethal," He told her. "As a friend of mine once told me, 'If it's made for show, it ain't made for the field. If it's made for the field, it sure as hell ain't made for show.'"

Weiss rose an eyebrow at that. "Who told you that?"

Jaune shrugged. "Another agent, name was Agent Jumper. He's dead, though."

* * *

Weiss flinched at the casual tone in his voice. "Oh. I-I see." It still bothered her that the bumbling that _was_ Jaune Arc was replaced by... this... monster.

Jaune chuckled again, but something was off with the tone. It was more sad, if anything. More hollow. "A monster, huh?" he murmured.

Weiss squeaked, covering her mouth with her hands. Did she say that out loud?!

Jaune's eyes hollowed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Weiss inwardly panicked. What does she do?! She didn't mean to say it out loud! Why did she let that slip out?!

Apparently, Jaune could see the panic in Weiss' eyes, as he soon gave her a smile. Weiss frowned a little. The lack of emotion behind the smile did not suit the blond boy at all.

"It's alright, Weiss. I've accepted it already." He said, his voice low. Even. Calm.

"I-I'm sorry I-"

Jaune cut her off before she could apologize. "It's fine Weiss. Really." Jaune closed up the SCARAB's case and set it down on the floor.

"I'll be right back, I need to use the restroom." Jaune murmured, leaving team RWBY's room and entering his team's room. Weiss turned to face everyone else, wincing at the glares sent her way. Normally, she'd be the one glaring, but being on the receiving end of so much heat, her usual ice-cold glare stood no chance.

"I messed up," she mumbled.

* * *

Jaune stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He stepped up to the sink, looking up and staring at his reflection in the mirror. "What's wrong, Jaune? Isn't she right?" he asked himself.

' _No, she's wrong._ '

Jaune closed his eyes and sighed. He turned around, leaning his back against the sink.

"Is she really? I kill people without so much as a thought, and yet... I'm barely old enough to drink. My friends look at me as if I would turn on them at any moment."

' _A monster would've enjoyed killing people. They would find amusement from death, and a true monster would kill merely for the sake of killing. So, are you really a monster?_ ' Ino asked, stumping Jaune a little.

"I-I don't know-"

Ino cut him off, sternness in her voice. ' _That's not enough. Do you honestly think you'd ever attack your friends with the intent to kill?"_

Jaune growled. "Never!"

' _Then why do you insist on labeling yourself as a monster? You're clearly not, yet you keep telling yourself that you are. Why?_ ' Ino questioned.

Jaune sat there in silence, and Ino waited patiently for an answer. When it was clear she was not going to get one, should she have had a body, she sighed.

' _You have a righteous purpose for why you kill. Unlike a monster, you kill to protect and keep others from having to do_ _so._ ' She continued.

Jaune sat there, processing her words, before he slowly began to nod. "Yeah... you're right." He murmured. He gave a small smile.

"Thanks Ino."

Ino giggled. ' _Any time, Jaune. Now go back to your friends! They're probably worried about you!_ '

Jaune's smile grew wider. He pushed himself off of the sink and walked to the door, and opened it. He didn't notice Weiss in front of him and nearly knocked her onto the ground. She regained her balance somehow, especially with her heels.

"Oh, sorry Weiss, I didn't see you there." Jaune said, putting a hand on her shoulder for extra support. Weiss shook her head.

"No, _I'm_ sorry. It was insensitive of me to say that to you, and I must apologize." Weiss said, bowing a little. Jaune shook his head and lifted her head up with his finger under her chin.

"Hey, I already told you it's alright didn't I? Now, that's enough." Jaune said, removing his hand from her chin and giving her a cheesy thumbs up. The two shared a smile. "C'mon, let's go open the presents." Jaune said, taking her hand and leading her back to team RWBY's room. The heiress coughed into her other hand.

"A-About that..."

When Jaune walked into the room, his eyes widened. The room was a complete mess. The drapes were on the floor, one the bunk beds looked like it was about to fall down, and books were scattered throughout the room. In the center of said room was a pile of people, minus Ren. At the bottom of the pile, as far as Jaune could tell by looking at the person's legs, was Yang.

Her arm was outstretched, away from the pile, and her hand was clutching something. A book? Jaune winced when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?" He asked Weiss, the only possible culprit. The heiress rolled her eyes at him, then deadpanned at him.

"Really? As if it isn't obvious? Why would you give _Yang_ of all people a _pun book?!_ " Weiss exclaimed, irritation heavily lacing her voice.

"I... uh... it wasn't my idea! I swear! GACK!" Jaune choked when he was pushed up against the wall. He looked down at the assailant and saw that it was Blake, her amber eyes narrowed dangerously.

"That," she pointed at the book in Yang's hand, "was _your gift?! Do you have any idea what I'm going to go through now?!_ "

Jaune clawed at the hand that was holding him against the wall. "Blake..." he gasped, "...need... air... let... go...!"

Blake sent one last glare his way, but let him go regardless. "You fiend." She snapped. Jaune flinched. He knew it was a bad idea. Suddenly, movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see an object flying at his face.

Reflexes kicking into gear, he caught just before it impacted his nose, and he pulled it away from his face to see what it was. He gulped when he saw the cover. _The pun book._ And as he peeked over the cover, he whimpered when he saw the glowing eyes of his friends, all locked on to him. Or rather, what he held.

"Uh..."

Ruby pointed at the book in his hands. "Get 'em!"

Jaune didn't even have a chance to drop the book. "Nononononononono! Gah! Guys-wait l-let's talk this out-! Ah! My back!"

* * *

 **A/N: Alright guys, here it is. Finally, after so long. I'm really sorry that this is so late, so I made it just a tad bit longer than most of my chapters. Anyway, happy (belated) holidays! And I'll see you again next time!**

 **IU13, signing out!**


	10. Rewrite Announcement

**A/N: Okay guys, the Rewrite is finally up! It's either on my profile or if you can't find it there, it's titled** ** _Division of Duties_** **. I'll be leaving this story up for any of you who want to reread this. Thank you so much for waiting so long and I hope you enjoy!**

 **And this was recently brought to my attention, but I know that I am violating the guidelines of this site by doing this, however I just wanted you guys to be aware of what is going on. Thank you!**


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